Curse of the WereBlake
by Constable Paperbag
Summary: During a routine combat lesson, Jaune gets bitten by Blake. At first, everything seems normal. But then mysterious happenings occur, things that cannot be explained through science or reason. What foul magic has cursed our resident knight? Can he be cured of this wretched affliction? Is it possible for a human to transform into... a faunus? Meow.
1. Chapter 1

**Two years ago, I came up with an idea. A story to scare the pants out of every poor soul who read it. At first, I deemed it to horrifying for anyone to witness. This kind of darkness is better left in my twisted heart where all my other nightmares live, like spiders and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies.**

**But now, on this month of October, I have decided to release my horrors onto the world. This story is only for the bold and the brave. If you are neither, turn back now. If you are, then read on... if you dare...**

* * *

**Cover art - Mike (you wouldn't know him)**

**Chapter 1 - Twilight Serendipity **

* * *

If someone were to walk past Team RWBY's dormroom, they would no doubt here the loud music and cheers echoing from within it. They would wonder what all the fuss was about, before going back to their own dorm to get some sleep, as it was a Thursday night and they had classes first thing in the morning.

As for those inside the RWBY residence, they too had to get up at the crack of dawn. But unlike the previously mentioned sensible student, they had no plans on going to bed anytime soon. Tonight was a night of celebration. A time of partying. A time of festivities.

Because on that day, approximately nine hours ago, something very special had occurred.

"Three cheers for Jaune!" Yang bellowed, her legs barely balancing her swaying body. "Hip-hip!"

"Hooray!" everyone else cheered.

"Hip-hip, ah you know what? Screw it, let's settle for just one. I wanna drink my drink."

Yang threw her vodka down her throat with a single loud gulp. Somewhere, in a faraway land, her uncle smiled proudly. Her dad, not so much.

All of them were sat down on the floor, nursing their own drinks. They had all finished playing games like Pin the Stinger on the Deathstalker, and Try to Make Weiss Laugh. Now it was time for them all to get some liquor in their system. Even Ruby was allowed a bit of alcohol tonight.

Jaune sat in the middle of it all. He had been to quite a few parties since coming to Beacon, but never had he been the centre of them before. Never before had he had this many people congratulating him, giving him back-pats, and cheering him on to drink as much as possible all in the name of 'it's your party, dude!'

None of this was planned. This party was a spur-of-the-moment event. After all, who could've predicted that today he would finally win his first fight in combat class?

"Did you see the way he whooped Cardin's butt during those final few minutes?" Nora exclaimed. "He was all 'WATAAAAH!' and 'BLAMO!'" She used her hands to describe the movements.

"I counted at least fifteen blamos!" Ruby said. "And then there was that spinny move you did with your sword, where you hit him, like, sixty times! That was so cool!"

They were exaggerating. The real fight wasn't nearly as flashy as what they were making it out to be. He beat Cardin through patient strategy; blocking his attacks, exploiting his openings, careful dodging. Standard routine.

But screw being humble about it! This was his time to shine!

"I call that move the Shredding Whirlwind of Doom!" Jaune dramatically pronounced. "Cardin didn't know what hit him until it was too late. Remember how he hit the ground when he lost? That was the loudest thud I've ever heard. He's gonna have trouble walking tomorrow."

"I remember it well," Ren said. "I don't want to say I get enjoyment out of watching my peers get hurt, but watching him lose was… satisfying, to say the least."

"Well, then you're a better person than I am, Ren," Weiss said. "Because I took great pleasure in it all. That brute finally got what was coming to him."

"And to think some people say violence isn't the answer to problems," Nora scoffed. "I say, screw that! We're hunters! Violence is always the answer with us! If they wanted us to fight using words, we'd be lawyers!"

"Here's to not being lawyers!" Ruby cried.

They all cheered and clinked their cups together.

"I always knew you'd beat him eventually, Jaune," Pyrrha said warmly. "You've finally shown him what you're capable of."

Compliments from Pyrrha always made Jaune feel fuzzy. "I owe it all to you, partner," he said. "I couldn't have done it without your training. Lemme know how I can pay you back."

"Oh, please, there's no need for that. You don't owe me anything," she said. Then her hands started to fidget nervously. "W-Well, then again, I suppose I wouldn't mind going out for dinner sometime. Just the two of us-"

"You know what I think was cool?" Yang said, loudly cutting in through their conversation. She pushed her face in front of his. Her breath stank of whatever booze she used to fill her cup. "That time you used your sword as a… uh, wuzit called? - oh yeah, a _sword_ to poke him a bunch of times! He must've got, like, serious ouchies!"

Jaune had to push her back a little. An intoxicated Yang was even more forward than a sober one. "Thank you, Yang," he squirmed. "Um, could you maybe breathe in a different direction? Ideally, away from me?"

Yang giggled stupidly. "Whus the matter? Do I make you nervoussssssssssssshhhhhhhh?"

An onslaught of bad breath assaulted his nostrils.

"No, it's just…" He looked over at Ruby. "Help me out here, will you?" he asked her.

"Oh no, should've seen this coming," Ruby sighed, coming up to pull her sister away from him. "Yang, how much did you have to drink before JNPR got here?"

"Pfffft, what're you, like, a police person now?" Yang slurred. "You'll never take me alive, Officer Sister!"

"She is going to have a fun time waking up tomorrow," Blake murmured.

Oh crap, Yang with a hangover. And they had combat class first thing tomorrow. He pitied the poor soul who had to fight her...

To distract himself from such a terrifying thought, he quickly stood up. "That reminds me, I actually have a few words that I had prepared for something like this. Gimme a sec." He reached into his pocket, pulled out his scroll, and opened up the document he had his speech saved on. "I had this written up for whenever we graduated or survived a pretty intense battle, but now feels like the right time for it."

"Woohoo, that's what I'm talking about!" Nora yelled. "Speech! Speech! Speech!"

Soon enough, they were all chanting the same word.

Jaune cleared his throat and started speaking. "This is truly a special day for me," he began. "Here I stand before you as humble Jaune Arc, friend and leader. I never thought it'd be me marrying Weiss Schnee today, but as I see her now with my family's ring on her finger…"

Jaune slammed his mouth shut so hard, his teeth almost cracked upon clashing with each other. Everyone burst out laughing, except for Weiss who was looking ready to murder him.

Embarrassment swallowed him up. "W-Wrong speech," he stammered, frantically trying to find the correct one on his scroll. "Okay, for real, this is the right one: Friends and comrades-"

But before he could continue, the door suddenly burst open. Everyone went silent. Even the music magically turned itself off. It was probably a sleep-deprived student telling them to shut up so that they could get some sleep. They could've knocked first, but peaceful negotiations weren't really a thing at Beacon.

But the person who walked in wasn't sleep-deprived. No, he was happiness-deprived. Standing in the doorway was a very pissed off Cardin Winchester, schoolyard bully and overall dickhead in every sense of the word!

"Alright, that's it!" he cried. "That's the last straw! I'm pulling the plug on this crap!"

"Who'z that?" Yang mumbled, lying on the floor. Her face was buried in the carpet.

"It's Cardin," Ren said.

"Oh… lemme know when it's the pizza man…"

"Will do."

"What do you want, Cardin?" Jaune leered. "Last I checked, you weren't on the party list. And even if you were, trust me, you aren't exactly the guest of honour here."

"Screw you and your stupid party!" Cardin growled. "I know exactly what's going on here. There's word going around about a party at Team RWBY's room just to make fun of me. I thought I'd swing by to see it for myself, and lo and behold, it's true. You guys suck!"

"But how did you find us!" Ruby gasped. "Who told you where we live?"

Cardin blinked. "No one, we're neighbours. My team and I live a few doors away from you."

Ruby looked shocked "Really?"

"Do you pay attention to anyone outside of your own friendship group?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Most of the other students here just look like shadowy blobs. I swear, some of them don't even have faces."

"Why do you care what we're doing?" Blake sneered. "Don't tell me you feel insulted. That's rich coming from a no-good bully like yourself!"

"At least when I pick on someone, I do it like a man, face-to-face!" Cardin argued. "You guys are hiding behind walls, chatting shit behind my back! This is schoolgirl-gossip levels of bullying, the lamest kind of bullying there is! I deserve better than that!"

"The only thing you deserve is a foot up your butt!" Nora jeered. "Now get going, before we let loose our Cardin-Slayer here!" She pointed to Jaune.

Oooh, Cardin-Slayer. He was gonna put that on business cards.

"I'm not going anywhere until this party is shut down!" Cardin said. "I've kicked Jauney boy's ass twenty times this semester alone. You think just because he beat me once, he's now better than me? Hate to break it to you dummies, but that's not how it works. Especially when it was only because of luck that he won!"

"Here we go, the age-old excuse," Pyrrha groaned.

Feeling cocky, Jaune placed his hand on Cardin's shoulder in a mock attempt to be friendly. "Cardin, friend, let's not come to blows over this," he said. "What say we discuss how you lost big time to me like mature adults?"

Cardin swiped his hand away. "Don't give me that 'mature' crap," he snapped. "I'm not the one throwing a party just to make fun of someone. And it _was _luck- the light reflecting from your sword got in my eyes. You must have freaking OCD or something, because you polish your sword way too much for it to be that shiny!"

Jaune nodded like he was pretending to listen to him. "I understand. It must be hard being the worst fighter in the school. I wouldn't know because, well, that title belongs to you now. It suits you better anyway."

"You better wipe that smile off your face," Cardin snarled.

"If you like, I can start giving you combat lessons? Help you get on my superior level."

"Stop acting like your some cocky badass now!" Cardin barked. "It's not badass if your win count doesn't even compare to mine! News flash, Jauney, luck runs out! And when it does, I'll just stomp all over you again!"

"Maybe," Jaune smirked. "But you know what? I'm feeling pretty lucky now. You feeling like sorting out our differences? Go ahead, big guy. Give me your best shot. Let's get even."

Okay, even Jaune could admit he was acting a little smug for his own good. But this was his night, and after weeks of getting bullied by the leader of CRDL, this kind of revenge felt long overdue. Especially when he knew Cardin wouldn't lay a hand on him. Not with all his friends watching.

To Cardin's credit, he didn't rise to the bait, not after seeing how hopelessly outnumbered he was. A sly smile slid across his face. "You know what?" he said. "Screw it. Have your party. You wanna feel proud for something stupid, then be my guest. Go nuts."

"I don't seem to recall needing your permission," Weiss noted.

Cardin ignored her. "Laugh it up all you want. I'm not gonna do anything… not now, at least. You all think of me as a sexy hunk and an absolute alpha male, and I accept that responsibility. But I'm brains and brawn, bitches. I'll get you back for this, Arc. You're not gonna know when or how, but when it hits you'll feel it. Maybe that'll teach you to mess with the Winchester!"

He shot them one last sinister grin before he walked out of the room, back to his own dorm. Along the way, he would probably steal someone's homework or be racist to a faunus or two. Cardin Winchester was a creature of habit.

"I know I should feel somewhat concerned that he just threatened me," Jaune said. "Buuuuuut I'm not feeling it. Like seriously, I'm trying really hard to be intimidated right now. Nothing. Zilch."

"He can't hurt you anymore," Pyrrha said. "This time, you can stand up to him."

It was almost embarrassing, how he let himself get pushed around by someone like Cardin. Sure, he knew his secret about his transcripts, but looking back at it now, it was unlikely anyone was gonna believe the word of a notorious bully. It was satisfying that he was able to move on from him now.

"So… going back to that earlier speech," Nora said cheekily.

Another embarrassing memory came back to slap him in the face. "Please, don't remind me of that," Jaune groaned.

"I just wanna know when you and Weiss were planning on getting hitched," she eagerly pressed. "Are we invited to the wedding? Am I a flower girl? Oh, wait, wait, make me the priest! I wanna give the whole 'dearly beloved' bit."

Jaune couldn't hide his blush. "Look, I wrote that really far in advance. In my defence, I never thought I'd get this far. I thought for sure I was gonna be Grimm food in the first few weeks."

"You're going to wish you were," Weiss growled.

"Jaune and Weiss sitting in a tree," Yang sang, voice muffled from the carpet. "K-I-S-S-I-" Her stomach growled. A shiver ran through her body. "Oh… oh wow. Who put all this vomit in my mouth?"

"Oh, crud!" Ruby yelled. "Party's over! Abort! Abort!"

They all rushed out of the room, locking the door shut behind. No one wanted to get in the way of that dragon's fire.

* * *

**I promise it won't be two years for chapter 2.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Cover art - Mike (You might know him)**

**Chapter 2 - Grievous Fortuna**

* * *

The next morning, everyone who wasn't Yang woke up refreshed and ready for combat class.

As Jaune watched Weiss and Russel fight in the arena, he wondered who his opponent was going to be. He doubted it would be Cardin. Now that he had finally beaten him, Goodwitch would likely pair him up with somebody else, giving someone new a chance to thrash him around. Don't worry, folks, everyone will get a turn pummeling him.

"Death..." Yang hissed under her breath. "Kill… must… kill…"

"Ren, give her another dose of that calming technique," Ruby said.

"One Yang pacifier coming up," Ren said, getting up out of his chair and jabbing the back of her neck with two fingers. Her body tensed up for a second, then relaxed. Her eyelids drooped.

"Kill… kill…" she continued to whisper, albeit a little calmer than before.

Jaune gulped. If there was one person he didn't want to fight, it was Yang. His fears from last night were confirmed- she definitely had a hangover, and it was a rough one. Her hair, which was normally relatively tame, was now frazzled and wiry. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, and she kept clenching her hands into fists.

The girl was a timebomb just waiting for an excuse to go boom!

"Arrgh!"

Russel skidded across the floor, his aura now in the red. Game over for him. It was a close fight, but Weiss had won this one. Goodwitch gave them her usual spiel, talking about what they could both improve on, before addressing the rest of the class again.

"The next combatants will be Jaune Arc-"

_Please don't pair me with Yang. Please don't pair me with Yang._

"-and Blake Belladonna."

Blessed salvation.

"Oooh, you hear that? Jaune and Blake are gonna be fighting," Ruby said. "This'll be cool. It's about time we saw you fight someone other than Cardin for once."

"I agree, it should be interesting," Pyrrha said. "Best of luck to the both of you."

She said that, but he knew in her heart that she wanted him to win. That little bit of encouragement helped him rise out of his seat. Blake would still probably wipe the floor with him, but it felt nice fighting a friend for once and not a personal tormenter.

As they made their way to the locker rooms, Blake said, "I'm grateful that you put that racist idiot in his place, but don't expect me to go easy on you because of it."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he told her. "I'm just grateful I'm fighting you and not your partner. At least with you, I won't lose a limb."

She smiled. "It's not limbs I break. Only pride."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up while you can. See you in the ring."

In the changing room, Jaune opened up his locker and pulled out his weapon and armour. As he geared up, he thought about the upcoming fight, trying to come up with some kind of strategy.

Okay, so what did he know about Blake's fighting style? She had that katana of hers that could transform into a gun- Gambol Shroud, was that the name of it? How did people come up with these names? It also had a ribbon attached to it, so that she could swing her blade around like the world's deadliest yo-yo. It also allowed her to grapple onto things.

She was fast, nimble, and had many years of experience over him. This was gonna be tricky, and to be honest, he wasn't expecting positive results on his part. Trying to match her speed would be pointless.

But he had a strong defence. He was likely gonna have to tank most of her hits until she wore herself out. Then he'd be able to zone in and dish out some damage himself. It wasn't a great strategy, but it was all he had right now.

Once he was dressed, he stepped out into the ring. Blake was waiting for him in that familiar black and white attire of hers. Someone like her didn't need heavy armour to defend herself. He was a little envious of that. Not everyone was able to jump around like the whole world was a trampoline. But as it was, his sturdy defence and high aura levels would be his best friend in the fight.

"Begin," Goodwitch called out.

Blake leapt up into the air with the grace of a circus acrobat, then manoeuvred herself so that she went striking down to divekick him.

Preparing for the black and white missile heading his way, Jaune raised his shield to block it. But Blake didn't stop there. She flipped herself off the shield, landed behind him, and landed a kick to the back of his head. Jaune's vision swam. He turned himself around just in time to block the flurry of kicks and sword strikes battering his shield.

She was moving ridiculously fast. Jaune was scared to poke his head out from behind his shield, just in case he received a boot to the mouth. He couldn't even attack; all of his strength was going into blocking her attacks. He had gotten it all backwards- she was the one trying to wear _him _down.

Frustrated, he dropped his guard and tried to swipe her away with his sword. For a second, he thought he landed the strike, but the second his sword touched her, her body vanished- literally vanished. She disappeared into thin air.

Confused, he looked all around and saw her foot crash into his left cheek. He swore he saw stars spinning around him. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, rolling from the strength of her kick.

Her semblance. Her damn dodging semblance. How did he forget about that?

He spat out the taste of boot on his tongue and readied himself. He didn't ready himself fast enough. She was upon him again before he could blink. With his shield down, she kicked, slashed and punched him in every place imaginable, using her semblance to dodge any blind strike heading her way.

She moved like a blur. Trying to get a read on her moves was like trying to read in the dark- a complete waste of time. He felt like he was fighting in the middle of a tornado, getting bombarded by all kinds of crap from all sides.

His hand madly reached out, and with a stroke of luck, he managed to grab onto her leg before it could kick him. Blake's eyes widened. Her momentum was gone. She was thrown out of the loop now.

Jaune hauled her off her feet, spun her around, then let go. She was once again in the air, only this time she was flailing madly and uncontrollably. Her landing involved crashing onto her back. With her kind of defence, her aura was sure to suffer from that.

But she recovered quickly. She kicked herself off the floor, doing a cool little spin as she did so. She pulled back her arm and then, to his surprise, threw her katana at him. He raised his shield and didn't even get scratched. That was too easy an attack to block.

But then he saw the blade hooked onto the edge of his shield. Uh oh…

Pulling her ribbon towards her, Blake tugged with all her might. Jaune's shield was ripped from his hands.

"No, I need that!" he cried, but it was too late. The shield went flying out of the ring, completely out of his reach. He couldn't rush out to retrieve it; leaving the ring would be an instant defeat.

Blue eyes locked with amber. Oh yeah. It was a competition now.

Blake charged at him again and assaulted him with her usual bombardment of kicks and slashes, occasionally throwing some gunfire in the mix just to spice things up. With no shield to protect him, Jaune was forced to his sword to block her attacks. Fat lot of good it was doing him though. Without his shield, Blake was free to attack him from all angles. It was all you could kick at the 'beat the crap outta Jaune' buffet.

Jaune growled. This was a nightmare. He was enduring most of her hits, but the speed at which they were coming from was exhausting. He swung his sword like he was trying to swat a fly. He never hit anything. Blake would always be out of reach, or she would just use her semblance to dodge out of the way.

Alright, time out! He needed a time out!

He stopped blindly swinging and forced himself to focus. He ignored the stings from her attacks, He could take them. He just needed to get a hold of himself. Deep breaths.

He saw her sword coming down at him.

_CLANG!_

He blocked it! He freaking blocked it!

The impact of their blades clashing sent huge tremors up Blake's arm. She had the speed, but he had the strength. Blake gasped and staggered back, unable to handle the force of his attack.

Revenge!

He closed the distance and started hammering his sword down at her. He was nowhere near as fast as her when it came to attacking, but her reflexes were currently sloppy. She could only try to parry them away as his blade chipped away at her aura. Every time she tried to block an attack, her arms would give way from his power.

Jaune couldn't afford to let up. Blake was far from out. If he gave her even a second to recover, she could turn this fight around in seconds. Her kept wailing on her until he was given clearance to stop.

Blake snarled and threw a spin kick his way. Her foot collided against his breastplate, pushing him back. It didn't hurt, but it caught him off guard. This gave her enough time to cartwheel away and put distance between them.

Speaking of distance, she had learned her lesson not to get close to him, because she started using her ribbon to swing her sword around to attack him. Crap. He really needed to start investing in long-range weapons.

Jaune jumped, ducked, and rolled out of the way of the swinging blade. Every time he tried getting close to her, the katana would push him back. Its range seemed to be endless, and Blake controlled it with ease.

"Yikes!" he yelped as the blade narrowly missed his cheek. It then came back around and nearly swept his legs out from under him. This was the most jumping exercise he had gotten in years.

"Think fast," Blake grinned as the blade flew straight for him. With barely enough time to react, he tried blocking it with his sword, which turned out to be a BIG mistake. The ribbon got tangled around Crocea Mors' blade, wrapping tightly around it.

No! If he lost his sword too, he'd be completely helpless!

The moment Blake started to pull back, he grabbed onto the ribbon and started to pull it his way. The two of them were caught in a game of tug of war, both fighting for his sword.

"Let go!" Jaune said through gritted teeth.

"You first!" she struggled.

"You've got your own!"

"Well, I want yours too!"

Jaune dug his feet into the ground. Using both his arms, Jaune pulled the ribbon with all his strength. It was a miracle it didn't break from the constant straining. That thing must've been made from some pretty powerful stuff.

What was also a miracle was how hard Blake was yanked forward. She yelped as he once again overpowered her. She lost her footing and with it, her balance. Yes! He was on the winning side. All he had to do now was reel her in.

He pulled and pulled until she was within arm's reach. Deciding to have a little payback, he tried doing the same thing she did. He grabbed her wrist and attempted to pry her katana out from her fingers. If he got it, he would throw it out of the arena.

Understandably, she was not too keen about that. She planted her foot on his chest and tried pulling away from his grasp. The image of what was happening reminded him of when he was a kid, when his bigger older sisters tried taking his favourite toys. In that sense, he felt a little bad for Blake, but victory was so close now!

Just a little further. He could see the katana slipping out of her palms…

Blake growled, opened her mouth, and sank her teeth into his hand.

_Chomp!_

Pain!

"Ow!" he cried, immediately pulling back his hand. Screw trying to grab her sword. If she was gonna behave like that, she could keep the damn thing.

He looked at his throbbing hand. He hadn't been able to raise his aura in time, so Blake had left a couple of teeth marks and a bit of drool on his hand. Disgusting. At least he wasn't bleeding.

A horrified gasp came from somewhere in the audience. It sounded like a man's voice. He briefly looked around to see where it came from-

-just in time to see Blake's foot flying into his face.

Oh yeah, the fight. He had forgotten about that…

She kicked him so hard, all his memories of that morning were replaced with images of her bootprint. Hard ground greeted the back of his skull as he crashed into it. Dazed, confused and battered, he didn't try to get back up again.

"Mr Arc's aura is now in the red! The winner is Ms Belladonna!" Goodwitch announced.

Yeah, that sounded about right.

As he was lying on the ground, he looked at all the other students. His eyes landed on Cardin. How strange. He thought the leader of CRDL would be overjoyed to see him get his ass kicked. Jaune expected him to be wearing a smug, satisfied grin at the sight of him beaten.

But even with his blurry vision, he could tell Cardin wasn't looking like that at all. Instead, he looked… terrified?

[/]

"Does anyone here actually wash their feet?"

That was Nora's first question as they sat down for lunch.

"Nora, what kind of question is that?" Pyrrha sighed.

"A totally reasonable one about personal hygiene," Nora said. "Think about it: we spend so much time making sure our pits smell good, and that our hair's all shiny and healthy. But when's the last time anyone's made the effort to take a bar of soap to their toes? Can you imagine how crusty some people's feet must be?"

Jaune had a headache, and he wasn't sure if it was from the fight or this conversation.

"I mean, I've always thought they'd get clean from standing in the shower's water," Ruby said. "You know, because it's full of suds and stuff. It's not like we have baths in our dormrooms."

"Why are you even thinking about something like that?" Blake asked.

Nora shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it occurred to me when I got a whiff of Yang this morning. Mind you, she smells like she needs to wash more than just her feet."

Speaking of Yang, the poor girl still hadn't fully recovered yet. She had her face buried in her mashed potatoes. Jaune could see her jaw moving up and down. He didn't know if she was chewing, or muttering death threats to herself again.

Nora pointed to Yang. "See! That's just what I'm talking about. We gotta be hygienic if we wanna save the world, or else we end up like Yang. I betcha Weiss washes her feet in the shower. Am I right, Weiss?"

"I'm not even having this conversation," Weiss sniffed.

"Nora, you can't ask people such a personal question like that," Ren said. "How about we talk about something different? Like, say, Jaune and Blake's fight? That was impressive, I must say."

"Agreed," Blake said, turning to Jaune. "I gotta admit, you had me on the ropes there. For a moment, I thought you were gonna beat me."

"So did I," Jaune said. "Until you bit me, that is."

Blake grinned. "I didn't know what else to do. And hey, it worked, didn't it?"

"I still can't believe you did that," he chuckled. "That took me completely by surprise. Do you normally bite people in fights?"

"Of course not. I'm not a maniac."

"Just asking in case I'm sparring with you again. Next time, I should probably wear gloves. You have pretty sharp teeth."

"I'm just lucky you didn't have your aura up at the time," she told him. "If you did, I probably would've broken them."

Jaune's stomach grumbled. He looked down at his plate and saw it devoid of fries. That simply wouldn't do.

"Speaking of biting things, I'm gonna grab some more grub." He stood up, picking up his lunch tray with him. He turned to Nora and said, "Nora, when I get back, I don't wanna hear any more talk about feet."

Nora responded to his order by blowing a raspberry at him.

As Jaune walked to the lunch line, he took a moment to stare down at his hand. He could still see the faint bitemarks Blake had given him. His skin tingled as he recalled the memory of her chomping down on him. It was without a doubt the weirdest way he lost a fight.

He briefly considered using his aura to make them fade away. Would there be much point?

He was too busy looking at his hand to notice Cardin waiting in front of him. He bumped into his back.

Jaune grimaced. "Oh, Cardin. Sorry, man, didn't see you there-"

Cardin turned around and Jaune saw it again. That same frightened look he had during combat class. The big guy immediately backed away from him. "Oh, hell no! You stay the hell away from me, you freak!" he cried.

Jaune blinked. "What?"

"Don't come any closer! I don't need your disease-ridden spit slobbering all over me, you goddamn plague-bearer!"

"Cardin, what the heck are you talking about?" Jaune said, genuinely confused about all this. "And who are you calling plague-bearer? Even 'Jauney boy' sounds better than that."

"Don't go acting all clueless with me," Cardin growled. "I saw what happened to you in that last fight. We all did. You've got the mark of the beast on you!"

"Mark of the beast?"

Cardin pointed to Jaune's hand.

"Oh yeah, Blake bit me," Jaune shrugged. "What of it?"

Cardin shook his head. "So stupid," he muttered to himself. "Of course he'd be this stupid. No way an idiot like him would understand."

Jaune's temper rose. "How about you stop acting like a nutjob and just tell me what's going on! Don't tell me you're still afraid of cooties or something."

"Fine. Let me explain it to you in terms you'll understand: you're cursed, dumbass! You've got bad blood running through your veins! You were bitten by a faunus! Don't you know what that means?"

"Enlighten me," Jaune said.

"It means you're cursed to turn into one yourself!"

Silence.

Jaune waited for the punchline to come. He waited for Cardin to drop the gag and get serious. But as he looked at the expression on his face, he realised this _was _Cardin being serious. He said that last sentence so passionately, he could be mistaken for shouting. He honestly believed what he was saying was true.

"Cardin, buddy, friend, compadre," Jaune began. "I have just come back from listening to Nora lecture me about the importance of washing my feet. I don't have enough brain cells to spare on another pointless conversation."

Cardin leered at him. "You calling me a liar?"

"No, I'm sure you believe what you're saying is true. I'm calling you an idiot."

"It is true! That's how those freaks multiply! They spread their disease onto humans, infecting them, turning us into one of them! You think the faunus just appeared out of nowhere one day by accident? Bullshit! It was all due to poison in the bloodstream, with them being the carriers! They spread their sickness to the rest of the world!"

"Do you have to practice to be that racist, or does it just come naturally?" Jaune asked.

"Doubt me all you want, but this shit is real!" he snapped.

"Tell me, where did you even get all this _wisdom _from?" Jaune quizzed. "Are there any documentaries about it? Preferably ones that aren't werewolf movies?"

"Aha! So, you do know what I'm talking about!"

"Oh, for God's sake," Jaune murmured.

"You don't believe me yet. But you will. One day, you'll start to feel a change within you. You'll start to forget who you are, what you're supposed to be doing. Your mind will slip away from you and then… you'll be just like one of those animals."

Jaune hummed. "So, I'm destined to turn into a faunus, eh? Well, here's hoping I'm a flying faunus. I've always wanted wings."

"Look, you can make your jokes. But when you start growing a tail and acting crazy, don't come crying to me. I don't need you infecting me too. Some of us like keeping pure."

Jaune nodded his head. "Sure thing. I'll just go to the nurse about my transformation problems. I'll be sure to let her know that the racist wacko sent me. Hey, you know what? Why don't you come with me? While we're at it, let's see if she can cure your stupidity."

Cardin shook his head again, then slowly backed away from him. "You were warned, freak..." he whispered. "You were warned…"

As Cardin disappeared from view, Jaune stood there wondering what the hell he had just seen. Turning into a faunus? What would that make him? A werefaunus? Give him a break. What kind of superstitious bupkis was that? As terrible as it sounded, Cardin had somehow found a way to make racism entertaining.

Oh yeah, fries. That's what he came here for.

He made his way back to the table with fries in tow and sat down next to Pyrrha.

"You took your time getting here," she said. "Was the queue really that long?"

"Nah," he said. "I just ran into Cardin while I was in line. We spoke for a bit."

"Really? What did he have to say?"

Jaune briefly glanced down at his hand. A small smirk formed on his face.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It was stupid."


	3. Chapter 3

**Cover art - Mike (I know him, so that's all that matters)**

**Chapter 3 - Baleful Awakening **

* * *

Jaune did not open his eyes right away when he woke up, desperate to savour any remaining vestiges of sleep he had left.

He shifted his head to try and get into a more comfortable position. His pillow felt weird. It wasn't as soft as what it normally was. It was rougher and prickly for some reason.

A shudder ran up his body as a chilly breeze blew past him. Somebody must have left the window open last night. Probably Nora.

Okay, screw it, he couldn't sleep in these conditions. With his eyes still closed, he swung his legs out of bed to stand up.

And then he was falling.

A plummeting drop was his wake-up call. Screaming, his hands frantically grabbed hold of his bed before gravity could claim him. His feet dangled in midair. What the hell happened to the floor?

He opened his eyes.

"What the hell!?" he shouted.

Looking all around, he realised that there was no floor! In fact, he wasn't even in his dormroom at all! He was in the courtyard, hovering above a patch of green grass. Looking up, he saw his arms gripping onto a tree branch. A freaking tree branch!

Why in the name of the righteous Arc lineage was he sleeping in a goddamn tree?

But before he could find the answer to that burning question, a more pressing matter came into light: how was he supposed to get down?

He looked down below. He wasn't scared of heights, but from where he was it did seem like a pretty long drop. His landing strategy was nowhere near perfected, so if he let go of the branch he was still gonna break something, even with his aura. Letting himself fall was out of the question.

"Help!" he shouted out to empty space. "Somebody help! I'm in a tree! Help!"

His cries went unheard. Or if they were heard, everyone was ignoring him because it was too early in the morning to deal with this crap.

Jaune groaned. Looks like he was on his own on this one.

Feeling like an idiot just hanging there, he hoisted himself up so that he was sitting on the branch. How the hell did he end up in this situation? He remembered sparring with Pyrrha yesterday evening, brushing his teeth, getting into his onesie, then finally crawling into bed.

Now here he was, still in his onesie sitting in a tree branch. It was - as Ruby would put it - a gosh-darn mystery.

"Oh, Jaune. Didn't expect to see you here too," came another voice.

Jaune turned his head and saw Blake sitting in another tree a few feet away from him. Like him, she was also dressed in her nightgear- a black yukata that didn't look warm enough to handle the cold morning air. She didn't seem to care though.

"Blake?" he cried.

"Good morning," she casually greeted him.

"It's not a good morning! Waking up in a tree is a sign that it's not a good morning!"

"Hmm, I guess not," she said. "Alright, morning then."

"What are you even doing here?"

"Don't sound so judgmental. After all, we're both in the same position here."

"No, no, no, _I'm _not supposed to be here!" he said, defending himself. "I'm supposed to be in bed fast asleep, possibly drooling on my pillow! I am not, repeat _not_, supposed to be in a tree!"

Blake shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not exactly too thrilled to be here either. But that's the way life is sometimes, so here we are."

Jaune hugged onto the branch for dear life. Was he sleeping here the entire night? How did he not fall off?

"You're a lot louder than what you normally are," Blake noted. "I take it this is your first time waking up in a tree?"

"I'll give you five seconds to figure that out!" he barked.

"Only asking. Just trying to help."

"And what do you mean 'first time'?" he said. "Are you telling me this often happens to you? Is that why you're acting so nonchalant about all this?"

Blake nodded. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't used to this by now. I've been waking up in trees ever since I learned how to walk. I go to bed, get all nice and snug, then the next morning I'm picking leaves out of my hair. Mind you, there are times I've just found myself in a tree without having gone to bed. Don't ask me how I get up there, because I haven't a clue."

"And you don't find that disturbing at all?" he asked her.

"Not really," she said. "As I said, I'm used to it. But this is the first time I've met someone else in the same situation. It's quite nice. It's like we're cut from the same cloth."

Jaune sighed. "Well, as much as I'd love to sit and chat about how horribly wrong this is, I really wanna get down. How do we do it?"

"Aha!" Blake beamed. "Now that is the tricky part. In all my seventeen years of doing this, I still haven't properly figured that out."

"You cannot be serious," he gasped.

"I'm not as good at making jokes as Yang, Jaune. I'm completely serious."

"But if we don't get down soon, we're gonna miss breakfast and be late for lessons! Worse, the whole school could see us! We look stupid up here!"

"There is always that possibility," Blake mused. "Still, I don't know what you expect me to do about it."

"Haven't you got a working landing strategy? Just jump down and help me!"

Blake shook her head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. I can't describe it, but it's like trees have their own different rules on how gravity works. You fall out of one of these things, and there's not a thing you can do to stop your bones getting pulverised. Believe me, I've tried it before."

"But then that means…"

"Yeah, get comfy. We're gonna be here a while."

Jaune groaned, burying his face into the bark. This could not be happening to him.

"Hey, come on, don't act so glum," Blake said. "At least we won't miss breakfast."

"What are you talking about?" he whined. "We can't get to the canteen if we're up here."

"We don't need to. There should be a sandwich a few branches above you. Just eat that."

A sandwich… in a tree…

Somehow, it wasn't the craziest thing his mind had to comprehend. His growling stomach gave him the motivation to climb a few branches to find this supposed sandwich. He had a mini heart-attack every time his foot lost balance for a second. Climbing was not his strong suit.

He was about to climb down to his original branch until he saw something that made his jaw drop.

Resting on a branch was a chicken and bacon sandwich contained in a plastic tub. The thing looked freshly made, not a spec of mould sullied the bread.

Jaune would've rubbed his eyes if his hands weren't holding onto the branch. This was ridiculous, stupid, insane…

Delicious…

"Well, if lien doesn't grow on trees, sandwiches might as well," he sighed, grabbing the tub and making his way back down to his branch. He could ponder about the craziness of all this after he had eaten.

When he returned to his branch, he saw Blake munching on her own sandwich. She turned her head. "Oh good, you found it," she said in between bites. "What flavour is it?"

"Chicken and bacon," he told her.

Blake moaned. "You got lucky. Mine's just plain old ham and cheese. I really need to stop making such boring sandwiches."

"Did you plant that sandwich there for me? Did you know I was gonna wake up here?"

"No, I've got sandwiches prepared on every tree at Beacon," Blake explained. "I never know which tree I'm gonna appear in, so I like to have something ready for me when I arrive."

"When I get down from here, I'm gonna cut down every single tree I see," Jaune vowed. "This is not becoming a habit for me."

"Professor Peach might give you a year's worth of detention for that."

"As long as I'm on solid ground, I can live with that," he grumbled, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

It was unclear how long the two of them spent up there, but it was amazing how getting some food in his belly helped him relax and accept his situation for what it was.

Blake even had bottles of water prepared in another branch for when he got thirsty. She wasn't kidding when she said she came prepared. The whole thing felt like a really bizarre picnic.

"So, how do you normally get down?" he asked.

"Sometimes I can do it myself," she said. "The reason I have the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud is so I can climb down when I get stuck."

"But you don't have your weapon on you right now," he said.

"Yeah, but don't worry. My team will help us when they wake up. They're used to this too. I've actually left them a map of all the trees I'm likely to turn up in. They'll show up, laugh at us for a bit, then Weiss will let us down with her glyphs."

Team…

"I have an idea," he said. He reached into his pockets, praying to find his salvation in there.

Hallelujah! He had left his scroll in his pocket overnight. Praise be to his scroll, and praise be to his onesie for having pockets!

He dialled Pyrrha; the most reliable person he knew. He felt a bit bad calling her at such an early time, but this was kind of an emergency. He'd buy her something nice once this was dealt with.

"Please pick up, please pick up," he muttered to himself.

"_J-Jaune?" _came Pyrrha's groggy voice from the other end. It was obvious he had just woken her up.

"Hehe, uh, hey, Pyrrha. Good morning," he said.

"_Why are you calling me- wait a minute, where are you right now? Your bed's empty!"_

"Okay, so, I'm gonna need you to not ask too many questions, because I'm still a little confused by this myself. Basically, I'm stuck in a tree and I need your help."

"_You're what?" _she cried.

"Remember back in initiation when I got stuck in a tree because of your spear? Think of it like that, only without the spear."

"_I don't understand. How did you get stuck in a tree? What are you even doing in one in the first place?" _

Jaune sighed. "Trust me, Pyrrha, I've already asked myself every question you're thinking right now, and I haven't got a single answer. I just woke up this morning and here I was. I must have fallen asleep here last night.

"_That's not possible, I saw you go to bed in our room last night!"_

"I know, I know, I'm just as confused as you are, but this is what's happening. Blake can vouch for me on this."

"_Blake?"_

"Oh yeah, she's here too."

Jaune raised the scroll towards Blake. "Morning, Pyrrha," Blake shouted at the scroll.

Jaune put the scroll back to his ear. "I dunno if you heard that, but she says hi," he said.

"_And is she…?"_

"Stuck in a tree too, yes. It's a double emergency."

"_I… I'm not sure I'm properly awake," _Pyrrha said. _"Jaune, is this real? Are we actually having this conversation, or am I still sleeping? It's honestly hard to tell." _

"No, no, no," Jaune said frantically. "Pyrrha, whatever you do, don't go back to sleep. I assure you, this is real!"

_"You have to understand, this doesn't feel real. I think I might have had too many of Ren's health drinks..."_

"Pinch yourself if you have to. This is real. Me and Blake really need your help. Please, I'm starting to get dizzy up here."

"_Alright then, hold on. Let me just put on some- hold on…"_

There was a pause on her end.

"Uh, Pyrrha? You still there?" Jaune asked, a little worried.

"_Huh? Oh, nothing, it's just… did you and Blake wake up in the same tree together?" _

For some reason, her voice had shrunk down to a shy mumble.

"No, she's stuck in her own tree about a few feet away from me. Why?"

"_Oh, no reason," _Pyrrha breathed. Why did she sound so relieved about that? _"Alright, stay put, I'm coming to get you. Let me just put some clothes on first." _

"Thank you, you're a life-savour," he said eagerly. "We're in the courtyard. You can't miss us; we're the two idiots stuck in trees. You're the best partner ever, Pyrrha!"

"_It's fine," _she said. _"Oh, and just a heads up, you might want to avoid Nora for most of the morning. Our conversation has just woken her up, and she's glaring at the scroll. Yeah, she's not happy with you." _

"I'll treat to some pancakes when this is done," he said. "Tell her I said sorry."

"_I don't think that's a good idea- no, Nora, put your hammer away! He said he was sorry for waking you... yes, I do know what time it is… that may be true, but you still can't hit him in the-"_

The call cut off before Jaune could hear what grim fate awaited him when he got down. Maybe he'd be safer if he just stayed in the tree?

"Just a heads up, I recommend having the fire department on speed dial," Blake said. "In case this happens again and no one you know can help, those guys are really useful. It's like they're trained for situations like this."

"This won't happen again," he grumbled. "And even if it did, like I'm really gonna do that. It's not like I'm a…"

Cat stuck in a tree…

He never said the phrase out loud. Not because he thought Blake might find it offensive, but because of a memory from yesterday. He looked down at the hand where Blake had bitten him. The marks were fading, but he could still see them. Still feel them.

What was it Cardin had said?

Speaking of Cardin, he saw the bully in the distance. He was wearing a vest and a pair of black shorts. He must have been out for a morning jog. Cardin saw him too. Silence passed as the two of them stared at each other.

Cardin's lips curled into a disgusted frown. He shook his head, turned his back, and jogged silently back to the school.

Suddenly, Nora's threats of violence seemed like the least of his worries.


	4. Chapter 4

**Cover art - Mike (Not saying you're _not _allowed to know him. I'm just saying _I _know him)**

**Chapter 4 - Odious Strife **

* * *

"Foooooooooood!" Ruby groaned like a zombie as she munched on her lunch. "Neeeeeeeeeeeed foooooooooooooood!"

Chunks of potatoes were spilling from her mouth, but not even Weiss had the strength to correct her on her table manners. They were all feeling the same way.

"I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so boring, that listening to them builds up an appetite," Ren muttered as he poked at his peas. "If Professor Port could weaponize his ability to drain the will from people, he'd be unstoppable."

"I hear there's already a Grimm that does that," Pyrrha said. "The Apathy, I think it's called?"

"You don't think he actually is one, do you?" Nora asked. "Maybe that's how he knows so much about Grimm- he's one himself! Oooh, I think we've just stumbled upon a conspiracy here! This is how the Grimm will wipe us out: from the inside!"

"I think Nora might be onto something," Weiss murmured.

"You're only saying that because you're tired and hungry," Ren said.

Weiss blinked. "You're right," she whispered, sounding horrified with herself. "My apologies. Don't let me talk until after I've eaten and rested."

Unlike the rest of his companions, Jaune wasn't feeling that bad. Sure, Professor Port's lessons were a drag, but at least they were better than being stuck in a tree. He was in such good spirits after getting down, that he was actually able to pay attention to the professor's drivel. He even took notes, something people even like Weiss and Pyrrha struggled to do in his lessons.

He ate his lunch happily without struggle or fatigue.

"Ugh, it stinks in here," Yang moaned.

Ruby blushed. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Not you!" Yang said. She pointed two accusing fingers at Jaune and Blake. "It's because of you two! Did you really have to order nothing but fish for lunch? You're stinking the place up!"

It was true, he and Blake had coincidentally ordered a giant pile of tuna for lunch. He couldn't smell anything bad though.

"What's wrong with wanting fish?" Blake leered. "It's got to be better than eating fatty meat like that burger you've got there."

"At least I'm not making the place smell like an aquarium!" Yang shot back.

"I will admit, that is an unusually large amount of fish you're eating, Jaune," Pyrrha said to him. "You haven't even ordered any sides with it. It's literally just fish."

Jaune shrugged. "I've got a craving for it recently," he said. "I guess being at a school for hunters has made me appreciate foods with protein and nutrients in it."

"Preach," Blake said, approval in her tone.

"You should try some, Pyrrha," he said, holding his fork close to her. "It's good stuff, really healthy for you."

Pyrrha's nose wrinkled. "Um… I'm okay, thank you," she winced, trying to sound as polite as possible. "My lunch is pretty filling."

"Your loss," he hummed, serving himself another mouthful.

It was easy to get addicted to the scaley delights on his plate. The rich flavour and how the meat melted on your tongue was something he had never noticed before until now. If this kept up, this was gonna be one of his routine meals, regardless of how much the other's complained.

So lost in his food, he didn't realise he had devoured the rest of his fish so quickly. His plate was bare and fish-ridden. There was but one solution to this problem.

"I'm gonna get some more food. Be right back," Jaune said, standing up from his seat.

Blake stood up to join him. "Yeah, same," she said.

"Not more fish!" Yang whinged. "Next time I'm here, I'm bringing nose pegs."

"Please consider sharing them," Ren said softly.

Jaune rolled his eyes. They didn't understand. Once they savoured the succulent texture of fish, they'd look past whatever smell it gave off. Just as long as they didn't eat any of his, that was.

He and Blake made their way back to the lunchline. They skipped by all the pointless stuff like fries, burgers and pizza. They had their eyes set on the true prize.

One last tuna fish stood proudly out. All the other students ignored it, completely ignorant to the aquatic treasure before them. It's lifeless glassy eyes and agape expression made Jaune's mouth salivate. He could already taste it.

His hand reached out to grab it. Since it was the last one, he'd have to eat it slowly in order to truly appreciate it. Such a divine creature deserved all the respect in the world.

As he reached for the tuna, Blake's hand bumped against his.

They froze.

Both their hands were held securely around the dead fish. Neither one of them loosened their grip.

The two of them slowly craned their heads to look at each other, their arms staying locked in place. Jaune felt the air stiffen as the sound of drums thumped in his head.

Blake's face was expressionless, but he recognised the look in her eyes. He recognised it because he felt the same determination burning behind his own.

"Jaune," Blake said with a steady voice.

"Blake," he responded, equally as calm.

"This is the last tuna."

"It is."

Silence.

"Jaune."

"Blake."

"Release the tuna."

"I will not."

More silence.

"Jaune."

"Blake."

"Fucking die."

"You first, bitch."

Without warning, Jaune immediately smacked her in the face with his lunch tray. Blake roared in frustration as she fell back.

The mine had been trodden on. Time to ride the explosion.

Jaune lunged for the fish, but his momentum was lost when Blake jumped on his back, hosting him away from it. She clawed and scratched at his face, while he did everything in his power to throw her off.

Students cried out as the two of them slammed into other tables, spilling food and drinks everywhere. They had seen one too many food fights to know where this was going.

"Ret go uh mah fafe!" Jaune slurred as Blake's thumbs pried their way into his mouth, stretching his lips.

Grabbing a nearby carton of apple juice, Jaune aimed the straw behind him and squeezed the contents out onto Blake's face.

Blake yelled and threw herself off of him, rubbing her eyes. Jaune didn't have time to waste on her. Tuna was in sight!

He ran past her while she was blinded. His goal was but a few inches away from him. He was getting closer. Running, running, running- FALLING!

Jaune slammed to the ground as something bound his legs together. Looking behind him, he saw a string of sausages tied around his legs. Blake was holding the other end, snarling at him.

She yanked him back and he followed suit. He scrambled on the floor, trying to pull himself forward, but Blake had the upper hand. When he was close enough, she grabbed a nearby kebab and brought it slamming down on him.

Jaune grabbed the closest thing to him- another lunch tray. He blocked the incoming meat strike before it could ruin his uniform.

"You will not deny me what is rightfully mine!" she bellowed, still hammering the kebab against his tray.

"The dead have no rights!" he spat back.

"I am death incarnate!"

She raised the kebab over her head, and he took the opportunity to kick her in the stomach while she was exposed. As she staggered, he picked himself up off the floor. He grabbed a hotdog, giving it a testing twirl. A fine weapon. He raised his lunch tray to his side, assuming a defensive stance.

Blake threw several plates like frisbees his way. He was ready for all of them.

Block!

Slice!

Block!

Slice!

Ow, one hit his leg…

Block!

Slice!

Shattered ceramic littered the floor. It crunched under Jaune's foot as he charged at Blake. He applied more ketchup to the top of the hot dog for maximum damage. He drove a piercing thrust straight for her.

But Blake did the unthinkable. She caught the hotdog between her teeth, chewed it up, then spat out a piece right in his face.

"My eyes! Jaune howled. His own ketchup had been turned against him. He stumbled around, desperately trying to regain his vision.

He heard running footsteps, but they weren't heading his way. They were running past him.

Deceitful minx! She was gonna grab the tuna while he was blinded!

Unacceptable. He needed to get his sight back. His hands madly grabbed onto a bowl filled with a cold liquid. He brought it up to his face and sniffed. It was milk.

He knew what he had to do.

He dunked his head into it and began swirling his face around. A few seconds later, he pulled his head out and blinked several times. His baptism in the holy waters of dairy had returned his sight to him. Praise be.

He saw Blake heading towards the tuna. She was close. In a few seconds, she'd have her dirty claws all over it.

Grabbing a bottle of ketchup and mustard, he placed them by his feet and squeezed as hard as he could.

_PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!_

The red and yellow jetstream launched him into the air like a rocket. With no control over his flight pattern, he crashed into Blake the second he lost altitude. Blake yelped as he collided into her. Chairs, food and tables went flying upon impact.

Two bodies tangled with each other on the floor. Both of them abandoned their concepts of strategy and weaponry, instead choosing to punch and scratch at each other with their bare hands.

"What in blazes are they doing?" Weiss cried as they all watched the beastly display.

Blake and Jaune were rolling on the floor, covered in all manners of food and drink that could've been fed to so many homeless people. At one point, the two of them looked like they were trying to strangle each other with spaghetti strings.

"Don't look at me, I didn't teach Jaune how to fight like that," Pyrrha said.

"There's no way this can all be over one fish," Ren said. "I know the two of them are passionate about getting what they want, but I didn't think they'd be… _this _passionate."

"It looks like fun!" Nora said, tugging Ren's arm eagerly. "Come on, Ren, let's join in! Remember the last food fight we had?"

"I remember," Ren said, pulling his arm back. "Which is exactly why I'm _not _joining in."

"Yang, you gotta do something!" Ruby said.

"Huh? Me? Why me? I didn't start this!" Yang said.

"Because you're the only one strong enough to pull them apart!"

"What about Pyrrha?"

"We can't ask Pyrrha! She's still eating her lunch!"

True enough, Pyrrha wasn't even halfway through her salad, whereas Yang had a clean plate. A champion like her needed her food.

Pyrrha smiled sheepishly. "If you wouldn't mind, Yang…"

Yang rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine. But if any of that food gets in my hair, there's gonna be trouble."

She stood up and walked towards the two squabbling teens. They had somehow gotten themselves tangled together by the same spaghetti string, and were now competing in a fierce headbutting match.

"Alright, kiddies, pack it in," Yang groaned. "I don't know what's gotten into the two of you, but this has to stop-

Jaune and Blake both glared at Yang and hissed at her. Spit was dripping from both their mouths. Their eyes were ablaze with animalistic fury. Yang flinched. Even she was wary of breaking them up now. She had never seen anyone look so frenzied.

She slowly made her way back to her chair. "Uh uh, I ain't getting involved with that," she muttered. "I say we just let them wear each other out."

Jaune stood up and ripped himself free of his spaghetti restraint. Of course, this meant Blake was now free too. She would've lunged at him if it weren't for the ace up his sleeve. He quickly grabbed two fish sticks and held them out.

Jaune felt unclean holding them. The poor fish had been butchered, battered, breaded and bastardized into these puny orange rectangles. It was a shadow of its former self. But at it least it would keep the vixen at bay.

Blake's face paled. "You keep those false idols away from me," she seethed.

Jaune bared his teeth. "Burn, Belladonna, burn!"

He formed the two sticks into the shape of a cross, and pressed them to her skin. Blake screeched like her body was on fire. She writhed in pain as discount bootleg fish rubbed against her arm.

Jaune kept moving forward, pushing her back. His fingers trembled. He wouldn't be able to hold onto these things for much longer. This was torturous for him too. He wanted so badly to drop them and wash his hands clean from their filth.

That moment of weakness was all Blake needed. She kicked the fish sticks out of his hand then jumped at him. Her assault had him flying backwards. His body skidded across a table, knocking even more stuff onto the ground. Blake straddled his chest, punching him while he tried to slap her off.

"Shameful, isn't it?"

The group turned around to see Cardin now sitting at the same table as them.

"Cardin, what are you doing here?" Ruby said.

"Don't mind me," he sniffed. "Just enjoying my trip to the zoo."

"This isn't funny!" Weiss snapped. "Look at the state of the two of them! They're fighting like cats and… well, cats!"

"I'd get used to it if I were you," Cardin said cryptically.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see… you'll see…"

Blake had Jaune pinned on the table. She grabbed his wrists and slammed his hands above his head, preventing him from using them. "You made do this, Jaune," she whispered venomously. "I didn't want to do this, but that thing with the fish sticks was the last straw!"

She held in her other hand something that made Jaune's heart sink. His blood turned to ice as he prayed for the Gods to be merciful. He swallowed a heavy lump in his throat.

Someone had left out a spray bottle in the canteen. In their skirmish, Blake had been the one to pick it up. Now she had it pointed at him...

"You wouldn't dare!" he gasped.

Blake smiled was as twisted as her heart. "I don't dare- I truth!"

"... what does that mean-?"

_Squirt_

Jaune screamed, thrashing his head around as water got in his face. It was so wet! So cold!

_Squirt_

He screamed again. "Stop it! It's so annoying!"

_Squirt_

"Have mercy! Have mercy!" If he got any water in his hair, he would have to dry it again, comb it again, tell himself ten times in the mirror that he looked okay again, and it would be such a nuisance!

Blake's finger twitched on the trigger, but then a strange purple aura covering her. Suddenly, she was pulled into the air with a startled yelp and left to hover there.

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. The Gods had listened to his prayers and saved him.

At least, that's what he thought until he too was yanked upwards, joining in Blake in suspension. Jaune looked down and saw it wasn't the Gods who had saved him- it was Ms Goodwitch.

Even then, 'saved' might have been the wrong word…

"Mr Arc… Ms Belladonna…" Goodwitch said their names like she was uttering a curse. "I don't think I need to tell you how many detention sessions you'll be getting from this, do I?"

The two of them glanced nervously at each other. Whatever tension they had between them was now extinguished. Now, they'd be suffering together during Goddwitch's infamous punishment sessions. Not even Yang could make jokes about them.

Whilst thinking about his impending doom, he saw Cardin standing by the food table. Most of the food was either on the floor or destroyed, except the tuna.

Cardin gave him that same disgusted look from last time, shook his head, then walked out on the cafeteria.

He took the tuna with him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Cover art - Mike (I'm not being insecure about this, shut up)**

**Chapter 5 - Sanguine Omen**

* * *

Ren's voice sounded like muffled static to Jaune. Whatever his friend was talking about was lost on him.

Jaune scratched the hand that Blake had bitten nervously. His eyes were darting all around the library. He had seen it again. It had moved swiftly like a glint of light on a deadly blade, lost to everyone else in the room except him.

Now it was gone again. It had disappeared without a trace. It always did this. It would appear out of nowhere, then return to nowhere the moment he blinked. It was too fast to keep up with. Impossible.

He took another careful sip from his energy drink. He had become addicted to them lately. Ever since he first saw it, he needed all the help those drinks provided. His own eyes were too slow, so he relied on those extra jolts to keep him alert.

"-une? Jaune?"

Jaune blinked and saw Ren staring at him. His friend had a book open about... physics? History? He couldn't remember.

"Bwuh?" was his reply.

"Are you even listening to me?" Ren asked.

"Of course, I am," Jaune said.

"Then what did I just say?"

"Are you even listening to me."

"Before that."

"Uh…"

Ren sighed. "You need to start paying more attention. I know aura studies isn't the most exciting subject in the world, but it's an important matter, especially for someone with your aura reserves."

"Right, right. I'm sorry." Another sip. "So, we were talking about the fundamentals of applied… what was it again?"

Ren stared unimpressed at the twitchy idiot that he was. He closed the book. Fair enough. He could've been reading Jaune a nursery rhyme and he'd still have trouble understanding him at this point.

"Jaune, is there something wrong?" Ren asked. "You're not usually this scatterbrained."

Jaune's bitten hand tingled. He tapped his fingers against the table. "Ren… you ever get the feeling you're being watched?" he said in a timid voice.

"Almost every day. Nora has eyes like a hawk. You get used to it."

"I'm not talking about that," Jaune insisted. "I'm talking about danger. Like there's something constantly breathing down your neck. I feel like a cornered mouse, rushing through thick grass to avoid a snake. Dunno where it's gonna strike from, all I know is I gotta keep moving. You know what I mean?"

"Not really?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune saw it again. That damnable circular red dot. It hovered across the walls, close to where they were sitting. It stayed in their mortal world for exactly three seconds.

Then it was gone.

Jaune growled. It could torment him all it wanted, but it was not hurting his friends. That's where he drew the line!

Ren gasped when Jaune grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close. "W-What are you doing?"

"Keep your voice down!" Jaune hissed. "I haven't figured out if it can hear us yet!"

"What are you talking about?"

Ren tilted his head up to look around, but Jaune quickly pulled him back down again. "No, don't look at it!" he said. "Don't let it know you can see it, otherwise it will never leave you in peace."

"I don't even know what I'm looking for!" Ren cried. "Why are you doing this?"

"Alright, don't freak out, but I think we're being hunted."

It was out there somewhere. He couldn't see it now, but that didn't mean it wasn't in the room. What corner of Hell could have spawned such a sneaky demon?

Ren pulled himself away. "Jaune, we're hunters," he said. "We are the ones that do the hunting, not the other way round. I think I'd know by now if I was being watched."

"But that's just it!" Jaune cried, then quickly lowered his voice when the librarian hushed him. "No one else can see it. It's been showing up for days nows. It's not even trying to hide. I've seen it in public clear as day, and no one notices it!"

"Slow down. What is _it_? What are we being supposedly hunted by?"

Jaune hesitated. "I… I haven't been able to get a good look at it," he admitted sheepishly. "It moves too fast for me to get a read on. But when I do see it, however briefly, it looks like a small red dot."

"A small red dot?"

"Yeah. It shows up out of nowhere, stays for a few seconds, then vanishes. Yesterday, it followed me around the entire campus! I don't know if it's planning something or not, but it always disappears before I can catch it."

"I see…"

"And it doesn't obey the laws of physics! I've seen this thing zoom around on walls, then teleport behind me! I don't know what this thing is capable of, but we need to arm ourselves. I'm telling you, we're in serious danger here!"

"This really doesn't sound that threatening to me."

"That's what it wants you to think!" Jaune said, pointing a finger at him. "It wants you to let your guard down. That's how it'll get you. But not me. I've got eyes opened on every inch of my body. I am all-seeing, always alert."

Jaune chugged down the can in his hand. As he fished out another, Ren looked worried. Not by the threat of danger as so clearly illustrated by Jaune, but because he clearly thought his leader was wackier than Oobleck's hair.

"Jaune… I've been speaking with the rest of our team," he said slowly. "We all agree that you've been acting strange these past few days. First there was that incident with the tree, then that fight in the cafeteria, and now this. Has something happened recently? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Ren, I don't see what this has anything to do with what I've just said." Jaune took a sip from his new can. Oddly enough, it seemed like the drink was now draining his energy rather than replenishing it.

"I'm saying this is not normal behaviour for you. It's clear to all of us that something's not right. We're worried about you. Even Nora thinks your acting peculiar."

"Oh, now that's just low!" Jaune gasped.

"Whatever danger you think that this… red dot poses, how do you know it's even real? If none of us have noticed it, why have you? How do you know you didn't just imagine it?"

"Imagined it?" Jaune groaned. "Come on, Ren, you know I've got a good imagination. If I was gonna imagine anything, it'd be cool things that would never happen in real life: like, say, Ruby using her eyes to freeze Grimm in their place or something. Give me some credit here, I'm trying to help us all."

"Jaune, speaking as a concerned friend and teammate… you're talking crazy right now."

"No, he's not," came a new voice.

The two boys turned to see Blake hovering over them like a perched gargoyle. Her amber eyes were locked intensely on Jaune, similar to how they were a few days ago in the cafeteria.

But unlike last time, there was no conflict behind them. Jaune took one look at her and he knew… she understood. She had the look of a woman who bore witness to the red dot.

"Blake?" Ren said, surprised by her presence. "How long have you been standing there-?"

Ren's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Blake pulled his chair out, and suddenly sat down in his lap. She didn't even look at him when she did it- her gaze was focused on Jaune.

"I heard everything," she stated. "How much do you know of it?"

"Not a lot," Jaune said, getting straight to business. "Tell me everything you know."

Behind Blake, Ren struggled. "Um, Blake? Would you please get off me?"

Blake ignored him. "Don't bother telling anyone else about it, they wouldn't understand," she told Jaune. "Let them live in blissful ignorance. It's safer that way."

Jaune nodded. "Understood. What exactly are we dealing with here?"

"Something the rest of the world doesn't understand, or rather, chooses to ignore. I've been seeing this red dot all my life, hiding in every corner of every room. I've tried researching it, but there's nothing in the history books about it. The closest thing I can find is an old folktale referring to a red entity known as 'Salem's Eyes'."

"Who's Salem?"

"I dunno. But apparently she's got eyes. Hence the name."

"My God…" Jaune whispered in horror.

"Blake, please. You're heavier than you look," Ren winced.

Jaune handed Blake an energy drink, which she eagerly accepted. She took a mighty swig from the can, gulped, crunched the can in her hand, then handed it back to him.

"I tried explaining it to my parents once," Blake said. "They laughed at me, said I was just imagining things. I went to bed that night, and you know what I saw? The red dot. It was staring at me, mocking my torment. I only got eight hours of sleep that night because of it."

Jaune's mouth hung open. He was appalled at what he was hearing. "Blake… I had no idea. To go through something like that… how are you still standing?"

Blake gave him a forced smile. "I'm a survivor, Jaune. I've had to be."

"Ren recently told me I was imagining it too."

Now it was Blake's turn to look disgusted. "Seriously? How could he say that? Ren sucks!"

"Normally he's cool, but in this particular instance? Yeah, he sucks."

"I'm still here," Ren grunted. "And, Blake, please! Nora might see this and get the wrong idea!"

"How do we catch it?" Jaune said. "It must have a weakness."

"None that I know of," Blake said. "Every time I try catching it, it slips through my fingers. I've tried sneaking up on it, laying traps, inviting it to discuss peace treaties. This thing is like Ruby's handwriting- unreadable."

"It's already infiltrated our school. We should lock down the building. Maybe set up traps?"

"I've already placed several in my dormroom. At least, I try to, but my team keeps tripping them. Then they get mad at me, and suddenly I'm the bad guy! They don't understand."

"You're not alone in this, Blake," Jaune said fiercely. He grabbed onto her hands and held them tenderly. "You don't need to try and convince me that this red dot is evil. It's small, red, and incorporeal. That's all the reason I need to kill it. If our friends even knew half the stuff we knew, they wouldn't be so judgemental. I got yo back, girl."

Blake was renowned for being a stoic, cool-headed person. But Jaune could see the tears glistening behind those battle-hardened eyes.

"I've been fighting this invisible war for so long," she murmured. "To have someone stand by my side in this moment of conflict… Jaune, it is an honour to chase red dots alongside you."

Jaune's chest tightened as a flurry of emotions raced through him. "The honour is mine," he said sincerely.

"I think the blood has cut off from my legs," Ren unhelpfully added.

But before either of them could enjoy their newfound alliance, Blake suddenly shot up from her/Ren's chair, knocking Ren back in the process. "There it is!" she shouted.

Jaune swivelled round. She was right. Hovering across a row of books was the red dot. His crimson nemesis. It stared at them menacingly from a distance. The lack of facial features on its scarlet visage made it impossible for them to judge what it was thinking.

Jaune felt his blood boil. "That bastard," he growled. "It heard everything we said. It knows too much!"

"Little specky eavesdropper," Blake snarled.

The dot zoomed to the left, racing along several bookshelves.

"No!" Jaune cried. "We can't let it get away! This is the last chance we have to get the drop on it!"

"It fears us now!" Blake said. "It knows we're working together, and it hates that!"

"Come on, we gotta catch it!"

The two warriors of justice sprung into action. They leapt across tables and students in their pursuit of the red dot. There was no time for planning or strategy. If the red dot escaped now, it would be free to wreak havoc upon the innocent students of Beacon.

The students were horrified when Blake and Jaune used their faces as stepping stools in order to get closer. Jaune pitied them. If they were this scared now, he could only imagine how they'd react to the sight of the red dot at full power.

The librarian tried shushing them, but was quickly silenced herself when Jaune accidentally slipped and crashed into her. Blake was throwing several books at the dot to knock it off the wall. The red menace dodged past all of them.

"I should have brought my weapon," Blake seethed. "I'd like to see that pest try and dodge bullets!"

The dot fell off the wall and darted across the floor like a mouse. For some reason, Jaune hated mice now. Seeing the red dot act like one make his stomach churn.

"It's beneath us!" Jaune shouted. "Squish it now!"

The two of them grabbed chairs and smashed them against the ground. The dot narrowly avoided each and every strike. When the chairs were nothing bust splinters, they tried stabbing it with the sharp end of the broken legs.

"Did you get it?" Jaune said.

"Nope," came Blake's reply.

"Well, where is it? I don't see it."

"It couldn't have gone far. Just keep an eye out- oh shit…"

Jaune noticed the despair-filled tone in her voice. He followed her eyes to see what she was looking at. He felt his soul wither. The dot had managed to escape their struggle, and had travelled up the tallest bookcase in the library. The bookcase was at least twenty-foot tall. Why was it that tall? Because this was Remnant. Everything was stupid.

The dot towered over them from up high, mocking them from its mahogany tower.

"Damn it!" Blake said. "I can't get up there. I don't do heights."

"And I suck at climbing," Jaune said. "We'll never reach it."

"We can't let it beat us, Jaune. We've come too far to give up now."

She was right. If they let it escape, there was no telling what levels of carnage it would unleash. Cities would be in ruins, children would become orphans, the sun would burn out. Things would be totally lame-o.

But then Jaune saw a solution. There was a chandelier hovering above the centre of a large table in front of the bookcase. If that chandelier fell down, whoever was standing on the table would go flying…

"Blake, I've got an idea," he said. "We're gonna use that table as a springboard. When I give you the signal, cut the chain off the chandelier. I'll fly to the top and catch the dot that way!"

Blake beamed. "Pyrrha always said you were the smart one. Alright, let's do this."

Jaune stood on the edge of the table. He took several deep breaths, preparing himself for his inevitable blast off. Blake pulled out a book about shurikens from a shelf and readied her throwing arm.

Jaune glared up at the red dot. It looked mighty proud from up there, but if it thought soaring to elevated heights made it an angel, it was mistaken. He was gonna drag it back down to Hell where it belonged.

"NOW!"

Blake threw the book with a spin. The sharp paper easily cut through the chains suspending the chandelier. It fell silently, but landed with a deafening crash. The impact split the table in two.

_BOING!_

Jaune sailed through the air like a speeding bullet. He headed straight for the top of the bookcase with no signs of slowing down. His arms were outstretched in front of him. The red dot was getting closer. Jaune didn't need to see its face to know how terrified it must have felt in that moment.

He slammed into the bookcase, sending books spilling down beneath him. He hit the bookcase with so much force, it started to wobble like a giant pendulum.

"Got you!" he roared. One hand was clinging for dear life on one of the shelves, the only thing stopping him from falling. The other was clenched tightly around the red dot.

_Don't look down, Jaune_, he told himself. _Whatever you do, don't spoil your victory now. _Wow, he was really high up! It didn't help that the bookcase wouldn't stop swaying.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Blake's face when he would bring down the red dot. Their suffering was now over. He couldn't help himself. He opened his hand to get a glimpse of his little red prisoner.

His eyes widened. "No, no, no, nooooooo!" he yelled.

The red dot was gone! The little deviant had escaped his clutches again! How was this possible? How could something so small be so powerful?

Curse it all! Curse it to the vilest depths of all of Remnant!

But that was turning out to be the least of his worries. A low creaking noise echoed throughout the library, like a thousand doors were being slowly opened at once. The bookcase starting leaning forwards, and this time made no attempt to move back.

"Uh oh," Jaune murmured to himself, as his world view literally got turned upside down. He briefly saw Blake's slack-jawed look as a twenty-foot shadow washed over her.

Timber!

The bookcase was devastating in its collapse. A huge dust cloud washed over the library, like someone had let a sandstorm into the room. The ground trembled in its destructive wake. Book pages fluttered down from the sky like snow. The crash was so loud, not even the librarian tried to silence it. All the students gathered around to get a good look at the literary cataclysm.

And there was Jaune and Blake, sitting in the middle of it all, surrounded by book pages and splintered wood. There was so much dust on their faces, they looked like they were wearing grey maks. Both of them had dazed, weary expressions. The two leaned on each other for support.

Ren scrambled over to them. "Jaune, what on earth is wrong with you?" he cried.

Jaune coughed and a small book popped out of his mouth. "I don't know, Ren… I don't know…"

Before he blacked out, Jaune saw Cardin sitting at a table at the far end of the room. The bully had been reading a book before the devastation. Now, he was watching the two idiots who caused a mess like everyone else.

Once again, he gave Jaune that same disgusted frown and disappointed head shake. He then returned to his book and didn't look at Jaune again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Cover art - Mike (You know what? Fuck all of you. I don't need you judging me)**

**Chapter 6 - Foreboding Dread**

* * *

"It feels strange coming here," Jaune admitted, "but I'm willing to admit when I might have a… problem."

Jaune never liked going to the doctors. They never had any good news. Ever since he unlocked his aura, he thought he was free from checkups and needles and all other unpleasant things in the name of healing.

But his team was worried about him, and he didn't blame them. He had been given quite the ear-chewing by his partner after she found out what happened in the library yesterday. Even now, he couldn't come up with any excuse for his behaviour.

Something was wrong with him. The least he could do was get a checkup, just to make sure his head wasn't scrambled. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be a man with a stethoscope.

"You don't know me, doc, but I can tell you that I'm a normal person," he told the doctor. "I don't do strange things, at least not intentionally. You'd never look at me and think I've escaped from a nuthouse. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I'm painfully boring. I'm too average for my own good, especially when you compare me to my friends. Amongst them, I stand out like a piece of dog crap in a rose garden."

"I see," murmured the doctor.

"So, that's why when I do something out of the ordinary, it gets more attention," Jaune continued. "Because people don't expect me to act weird. I've got my feet so firmly planted on the ground, you'd swear gravity's trying to give me a foot massage."

Jaune lowered his head. "But here's the thing: I have been acting weird. I've been doing the kind of things people post online for a laugh, except I've been doing them completely unironically. The scary part is I don't even realise what I'm doing is weird until I look back at what I've done. It's like my mind turns off and instincts take over."

"That sounds like a problem…" the doctor said, sounding slightly confused.

"That's why I'm here," Jaune sighed. "Want me to give you an example? Yesterday, I trashed my school's library chasing a red dot. Looking back at it now, I realise what I did was crazy, but at the time it felt like the most important thing in the world to do. I thought it was trying to kill me. A red dot! Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, that does sound hard to believe…"

"Do you think I'm crazy, doc?"

"I-I don't know."

"Are you lying to me? You think if I tell you the truth, I'm gonna flip and go crazy?"

"No, no! I don't think that!"

Jaune gripped his hair. "I don't know what's going on with me. Maybe I'm under a lot of stress? I'm a hunter-in-training after all, shit's trying to kill me all the time. I don't drink, I don't do drugs. Maybe this is a leftover side-effect from puberty? Either way, something's up and I need your help with this. You gotta get me back to my same-old boring self again, doc."

"Well, I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I can help you."

Jaune's eyes widened. He felt like he was gonna be sick. "What? Come on, doc, don't give up on me just yet! I've got a serious problem here! At least give me some pills or something before you pull the plug!"

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you," the doctor insisted.

"Why not?" Jaune cried.

"Because this is a vet."

Jaune blinked. It was what?

He looked around and sure enough, he saw loads of pictures of animals decorating the wall. On the floor was a green dog bowl with the words 'BENNY' written on it. Jaune was quite surprised he hadn't noticed the model giraffe skeleton in the corner the first time he walked in.

Jaune was aware of his face getting warmer. Someone must have turned up the heating. "Ah… I see," he said steadily. "Perhaps I can reschedule for another appointment?"

"Please never come back here again," said the vet.

"Fair enough."

Jaune exited the office, walked down the hallway, past all the other people with their pets waiting to discuss their animal problems. They were all probably wondering why a young man with no pet was walking out of a vet looking flushed. He needed a cover story if anybody asked. His dog died? Yeah, that would work.

Jaune stood outside and sucked in a deep, disappointing breath. Talk about a waste of time. He checked his scroll. It was still early afternoon. More than enough time to get himself a _real _checkup.

How the hell could he have possibly thought a vet would be able to help him? It must've been the stethoscope. That thing would fool anyone. If hunters wanted to look even more reassuring to civilians, they'd all wear stethoscopes.

"Well, look who's here: freak-of-the-week," came a snarky voice.

Jaune jumped. "My dog died!" he blurted out.

"What?"

Jaune squinted. He could see where the voice was coming from now. Cardin was leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest.

Frustration bubbled. "Great, Cardin," he groaned. "What do you want?"

"What were you doing in there? Getting your rabies jab?"

"I don't have time for you right now. Go bother someone else."

He began to walk down the street, but Cardin quickly stood in his way.

"You think I haven't noticed what's been going on with you?" he said hotly. "Gods, look at you! Even now, with all the evidence staring you in the face, you're still in denial. You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're already changing! You're becoming one of them! Those faunus freaks!"

Jaune sighed. He could already feel his head warn him of the impending headache about to hit. Now he was gonna need _two _medical appointments. "Cardin, I am not in the mood for this! I'm having a really difficult week, and the last thing I need is your mumbo-jumbo crap! Now leave me alone!"

"You can't keep running from the truth for much longer, Arc. The cracks are showing. Very soon, you're gonna be growing deformities and turning our civilised world into your own personal litter box!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, there's no such thing as a werefaunus!" Jaune snapped.

Cardin raised an eyebrow. "No? Then how do you explain waking up in a tree?"

Jaune hesitated. "I… I don't-"

"Or that thing with the fish in the cafeteria?"

"That's got nothing to do with-"

"Do I really have to bring up what happened yesterday too?"

"Enough! I don't know what's going on with me! I don't know why I'm behaving so weird lately! But what I do know is that it's got nothing to do with me turning into a faunus, because that's impossible! And even if I was, that still wouldn't explain what's wrong with me because guess what? Faunus are normal people! They don't act crazy like you say they do!"

"Well, that's where you're wrong, Jauney boy. It's got everything to do with your behaviour."

"Oh yeah? How?"

"You are aware that humans and faunus have different DNA, right?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Please don't tell me you of all people are gonna give me a science lecture."

"I'll forgive your cattiness because I guess it can't be helped now. Answer me."

"Yeah, of course I know that. So what?"

"Well, the thing about DNA is that it's built to make something work. It gives us life, identity, as well as some little goodies on the side, like making some of us taller than average or whatever. That's why humans are the superior species- we're born with the best genetics. Our DNA gives us better traits over the faunus because of how it's structured. That's the keyword there- _structure_. DNA must follow a strict pattern because it _must_, otherwise shit goes wrong and you get a bunch of freaks with animal ears walking around!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but please go back to shoving me in lockers," Jaune pleaded. "That was way more durable than this."

Cardin ignored him. "What I'm saying is, DNA doesn't like it when people start messing around with its structure. It's not a toy, you can't just go mixing all the pieces however you like. Humans and faunus are what they are because of what they're genetics build them to be. It is a perfect and complex system, the result of millions of years of evolution.

"But then there's you. You've now got both human and faunus DNA swirling around in your system, and your skinny body's gonna reject it. You've let your molecular tower turn into a house of cards; one final push is all it's gonna take for the whole thing to come crashing down. Your brain's gonna pop trying to deal with all these irregularities inside you. It's already happening. I reckon you've got a few more days left until… until the man is gone, and all that remains is the animal."

That was the last straw. Jaune clamped his hands over his ears. "I'm not listening to you anymore!" he yelled.

"Yes, that's right, let the denial flow through you," Cardin hummed. "It'll just speed up your transformation."

"La la la! Can't hear you, Cardin! Guess my faunus hearing isn't as good as what I thought it was!"

"I almost feel sorry for you, Arc. I'd be miserable myself if I knew I was turning into one of those degenerates. But I tried to warn you. I'm not gonna enjoy seeing you change, but in the end, you brought this on yourself…"

Cardin turned around and walked down the street, finally leaving him alone. Unfortunately, the silence didn't bring him peace.

Despite his best efforts, Jaune had been listening to Cardin. He knew Cardin was stupid, and that everything that came out of his mouth was equally as stupid. Despite being a 'superior human' as he put it, he was clearly at the bottom end of his supposedly perfect gene pool.

Which was why it was even more embarrassing for Jaune to find himself… almost believing him.

Maybe all the stress from the past few days had turned his brain to mush, but a lot of what the bully was saying made sense to him. It was currently the only solid explanation for why he was behaving so strangely, even if that explanation went against basic logic.

But then again, everything about this situation went against logic. Waking up in trees? Chasing red dots? Cardin was right about one thing: normal people didn't do that. Could he have actually been on to something here? Was there any truth behind this werefaunus business?

Jaune's mind argued back and forth with itself. The added stress made him feel even more agitated. He needed to calm down. Nora owned a stress ball for when she needed to squeeze the tension out of her. He needed one of those right now.

He stormed his way into a nearby shop and grabbed the first one he saw on the shelf. The other customers stood back to make way for the man on a mission.

The woman behind the counter turned around to greet him. "Welcome, sir, how may I-?"

She yelped when he slammed the ball on the counter.

"I'll take one of your stress balls if you please," he snarled.

The woman looked nervous. "S-Stress ball?"

"Yes please."

"Sir… that's a ball of string."

"It'll do, damn it!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Cover art - Mike (He also thinks I'm being overly protective. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You guys have turned him against me.) **

**Chapter 7 - Beastly Communion**

* * *

Jaune knocked on Team RWBY's door. He was feeling more agitated than usual. He had spent the entire day looking up medical web pages about his current problem. None of them could describe what was wrong with him. They all had useless advice like eating more healthy or going to bed earlier.

It was so patronizing. He had squeezed his new stress ball so tightly, the string nearly unravelled itself. He wanted answers- _real _answers that he wouldn't get from clueless doctors. But he had a feeling he was about to get them now.

The door opened. It was Yang.

"Oh, Jaune," she said. "Ruby and Weiss aren't here right now. Weiss is calling her sister at the CCT Tower, and Ruby's off shopping for dust magazines."

Jaune was stunned. "That's… not why I'm here."

Yang cocked her head. "Oh? Then what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"I was wondering if- no, hold on a sec, is that how you always greet people? You didn't even ask why I'm here. You just assumed it the moment you saw me. What made you think I only wanted to see either of those two?"

Yang shrugged innocently. "It's just an observation. You hang out with Ruby cause she's your bud, and you'd swim through a sewer if you knew Weiss was there to clean you off."

"I'm not _that _desperate for her."

"Pyrrha hangs out with Weiss- or rather, Weiss hangs out with Pyrrha," Yang continued. "Ren and Nora are pretty much glued to the hip, and Blake hangs out with Sun when she's not busy reading. You guys have an easy to follow routine."

"Huh… I've never thought about it that way before," he admitted. "But if that's true, then who do you pal around with?"

Yang hesitated. "Uh, me?" she laughed nervously. "Oh you know, everyone and anyone. I've got friends all over campus."

"Really?"

"You know it. I'm a real social butterfly."

"Strange. I've never seen you with anyone outside of your team and mine."

"Well, duh! That's because I try to make time for you guys. I've got so many friends, I gotta balance a schedule. A friendship schedule… for all my friends… that I have…"

The desperation in Yang's tone confused him, but he didn't have time to question it. He had his own problems to deal with.

"Well, looks like I'm about to break the routine," Jaune said. "I need to see Blake. Is she in?"

Yang shook her head. "You just missed her actually. One of her favourite authors is signing books, so she grabbed everything she owned written by him so he can scribble all over them. It's just me in here today."

Jaune sighed. "I see." He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.

Yang noted his downtrodden expression. "Sorry that my presence upsets you," she snarked, sticking out her tongue.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant," he insisted. "It's just that I've got a problem and it's really stressing me out. I was hoping to speak to Blake because I think she might be able to help." Then an idea popped into his head. "Or maybe I don't have to. Do you think I might be able to borrow some of her books?"

Yang laughed. "You want to borrow what? Oh, trust me, Jaune, you don't want anything to do with those things. If you're expecting a wholesome read, look elsewhere. Those things are vile!"

"Are they all horror books?"

"Worse- they're romances."

"What's wrong with romances?"

"Nothing's wrong with romances. At least, not traditionally ones. But Blake has very… special tastes in what she deems as romantic. There's more sexual activity on a single page in one of those books than there is online. Whoever wrote these things need to either seriously get laid, or _stop _getting laid. I tried reading one once, and now I can't look at tables and soup the same way again."

Jaune was a little surprised from learning this. It was enough to make his cheeks feel warm. "I… didn't realise she was into that kind of thing," he said.

"So, why do you wanna borrow some? You said you were stressed, but how would they help-"

Yang paused. Her whole body went stiff. Jaune didn't like the eyes she was giving him. They were wide and horrified, like she had stumbled upon a terrifying revelation

"Uh, Yang? What's wrong?" he asked.

Yang smiled sadly at him. She pulled him into a hug. Jaune, not really understanding what was going on, didn't return it.

"No, Jaune, no," she said softly. Her hand stroked the back of his head. "I know you must be frustrated that Weiss won't go out with you, but this isn't the way to deal with it. If you wanna relieve some stress, go to the gym or take a walk. Don't start jerking it to badly-written porn of all things-"

Jaune ripped himself free from Yang's grip. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he yelled. "Time out, that's not what this is about at all!"

"It's not?"

"No, goddammit, no! What do you take me for?"

Yang let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God," she breathed. "You had me worried there, Vomit Boy. The last thing this friendship group needs is two perverts. Blake can get away with it, but you're a team leader. There'd be a scandal."

Jaune was shaking. "Look, I'll cut to the chase so I can get outta here; I don't want any of her romance books. Do you know if she owns any horrors?"

"Horrors?"

"Yeah, horrors. Or, to be more specific, does she own any books regarding… werewolves?"

"Er, I think so. Why?"

Jaune hesitated. There was no way he was gonna tell her the real reason why he wanted some werewolf books. She would think he was crazy. Hell, _he _thought he was crazy.

"Because I'm interested in them and since I'm not allowed in Beacon's library for a month, I thought she might have some I could borrow," he explained.

It wasn't a total lie. Hopefully, Yang wouldn't ask too many questions.

Yang chuckled. "Oh yeah, you and she really did a number on the place. Nice work, by the way."

"Thank you?"

She held the door open for him. "Come on in. I'll show you her stash."

Jaune entered the room, following Yang to Blake's bed. He still wondered how Blake was able to sleep under a bed that was only being held afloat by a few books. She'd be sleeping in that bed forever if it ever came crashing down.

Yang pulled out a huge wooden trunk that looked like a pirate's treasure chest from underneath Blake's bed. It was heavy enough to make someone as strong as her grunt as she pulled it. Blake's emblem was engraved into the wood.

"Behold Blake's treasure trove of debauchery," Yang said. The lid let out a low creak when she opened it. "Go in and have a gander."

Jaune peered inside. If he were as much of a reader as Blake was, this would've been a goldmine for him. There were enough books inside the crate to keep him busy for two lifetimes.

"Do you think she'll mind me borrowing one?" Jaune said. "I know how much she loves her books. You sure she won't skewer me if I touch one without her say-so?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Yang reasoned. "Besides, I'm sure she won't mind if it's you. You two have gotten close lately. Just try not to damage them and you'll be fine."

That was gonna have to be good enough for him. Jaune started rummaging through the books like he was digging for candy on Halloween.

There wasn't much of what he was looking for. Blake clearly had a favourite genre. Romance made up ninety-nine percent of her collection. Yang wasn't kidding about Blake's… expectations when it came to romance stories. He was hardly a prude, but even he had to question titles such as 'Paid and Laid: Mr Silver's Secret Saucy Business'. Some of these books had to be outlawed somewhere in Remnant.

Eventually, he did find a few books that looked to be of use to him. They were still romances, but they featured werewolves. Surely there had to be some truth to his condition written in the pages of these tomes. He would just have to hide them from his team when reading them.

He scooped up a handful of them. "These should do," he said to Yang. "And before you say anything: no, I don't have some weird werewolf kink or whatever. I need these for research purposes. That is all."

Yang smirked. "Well, do yourself a favour and try not to read your 'research' out in public. I think owning one of those books is worth at least twenty detentions."

"I'm telling you, it's not what it looks like."

"Hey, no judgment here, dude. It's our little secret."

Jaune groaned. She was never gonna let him live this down. "Alright, thanks for your help. I gotta go now. Tell Blake I'll bring these back soon."

Jaune turned around to leave but was stopped when he felt Yang's arms wrap around his chest.

He craned his head back. "Yang? I can't move if you're holding on to me like this."

Yang mumbled something too quietly for him to hear.

"What was that?"

"Watch a film with me," she said louder.

"Why?"

"I'm bored." Her voice was on the verge of sounding like a whimper.

"Yang, I really don't have time for that," he said. "I've got some serious reading to do here. Now let go."

He tried moving but her arms tightened their grip. She flung herself onto his back.

"Y-Yang!" he cried, wobbling from the sudden weight. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm so booooooored!" she wailed. "Everyone's off doing their own thing, while I'm stuck in here left to collect dust! I'm wasting away!"

"What are you talking about? Just go hang out with some of your other friends! I thought you said had lots of them!"

"I lied! I haven't got anyone to chill with outside of our teams, and they've all got lives of their own! Even Ruby's made friends with that weird Penny girl! How is this possible? I'm fun, hot, and funny! How am I somehow the least sociable one here? It doesn't make sense!"

Jaune dropped the books and tried prying her arms off his shoulders. "How is that my problem?" he grunted. "If you want more friends, join a social group or something! Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet! So go bother some strangers and leave me alone!"

"Be my friend, Jaune!"

"I am your friend!"

"Friends watch movies together!"

"I'm busy!"

Jaune stumbled around the room trying to shake Yang off. This was ridiculous. Yang was one of the most confident people he knew. How could she be acting so pathetic?

"Pleeeeeaaaase?" she whined painfully close to his ear.

Jaune's face scrunched up. "Oh for God's- what film did you wanna watch?"

"Musical Girls 4: The Final Verse."

"Oh hell no, I am not being forced to watch another one of those films again! I'm not living with my sisters anymore!"

"But if you don't watch it with me, I'll have to start singing the songs myself to fill the void!"

Yang took a deep breath.

"Don't you dare!" he warned. "Don't you dare start singing!"

But it was too late. Yang burst into song in all her tone-deaf horror. Jaune had to protect his eardrums with aura. Her voice was like piano wire wrapping around his brain, squeezing his sanity out of him. Weiss desperately needed to give her some vocal lessons, or at least some duct tape to shut her trap.

Five seconds was all Jaune could last. "Alright, alright, I'll watch your stupid movie!" he yelled. "Then I'm out of here and you will never speak of this again!"

That did the trick. Yang happily hopped off his back, grinning like an idiot. "Yay!" she cheered. "I'll go set it up. Make yourself at home, freindo."

To think Ruby called herself socially awkward…

[/]

Four zeros ran across the alarm clock. It was officially midnight. Jaune's teammates were all asleep, except for him. It was impossible for him to sleep when he was on the verge of discovering the truth. He didn't turn on a lamp- the moonlight shining in through window gave him all the light he needed.

His heart filled with dread with each passing page. There was a pattern in these books. People afflicted with the werewolf curse didn't just transform immediately. There were symptoms beforehand. They'd start acting unusual, doing things that they wouldn't normally do. A sign that the curse was already infecting their systems and altering their mind.

And the curse was always passed down through biting someone…

Jaune looked down at the hand Blake had chomped on. He squeezed his stress ball for comfort.

He couldn't deny the evidence before him. Blake wasn't a werewolf, but she had a different genetic makeup compared to him. Faunus and humans were not the same species. Was it possible that he was acting weird because his body was rejecting her DNA? If so, what did that mean for him?

He continued reading: _"My life is over!" Blaine wept sexily. His tears trickled down his chiselled form. "I'm a stupid werewolf! Darcy will never go to the prom with me now! I need to go and sit on a rooftop to brood, or maybe write poetry! God, I'm so deep! Why can't my shirt hold all my feelings?" To ease his troubles, he took his shirt off. _

Jaune's heart went out to the main character Blaine. He too wanted a date to the Beacon dance. But who would ever go out with someone with his infected genes? Was this how the myth of werewolves was birthed? Could humans, being unable to handle faunus DNA, eventually transform into something neither human nor faunus? Something monstrous?

Jaune wondered how much time he had left. It had been almost a week since Blake had bitten him. How long would it be until he shed his human skin and turned all hairy and stuff?

He felt his eyelids droop. He had been reading for hours. His mind and body were exhausted despite the fear. His body moved on its own, slowly moving down until his head rested on the pillow. The opened book covered his face.

Sleep quickly followed.

[/]

_Jaune did not wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Because he woke up in a cage. He was still in his room, but he was most definitely in a cage. _

"_What the hell?" he whispered, blinking back sleep. _

"_Awww, looks like Faunus-Jaune is finally awake," Pyrrha cooed. "Good morning, Faunus-Jaune."_

_Faunus-Jaune? What?_

_Jaune didn't have time to question strange nicknames. He scrambled over to her. "Pyrrha!" he cried. "What's going on? How did I get in this cage?" _

_Pyrrha giggled, oblivious to his horror. "Wow, you're very loud today, aren't you, Faunus-Jaune? Who's a big chatty kitty today? You are! Yes you are!" _

"_What? Pyrrha, stop screwing around! Let me outta here!" _

"_Jeepers, looks like Faunus-Jaune's full of energy today," Nora yawned as she made her way over to the cage. _

_Ren followed behind her. "He must have slept well last night," he smiled. "We'll take him for a walk- have him work off some of that energy." _

"_That's a great idea, Renny!" Nora beamed. "I wanna take Faunus-Jaune to the arcade!" _

"_Now, now, Nora. Faunus-Jaune isn't allowed in the arcade," Ren said. "The bright lights might scare Faunus-Jaune."_

"_Awwww," Nora sulked. _

"_Stop talking to me like I'm an animal!" Jaune barked. "And I'm not scared of bright lights! What I don't like is being stuck in a cage while my teammates make fun of me!" _

_Pyrrha reached through the bars and pinched his cheeks. "He's so cute when he meows like that," she squeed. _

_Jaune pulled his head away. "Get off me!" he growled. "This is mutiny! You've trapped your beloved leader in a cage! I'll have you punished for this! If you don't let me out, I will forbid pancakes, dancing and Mistralian chocolate in this room for a month!"_

_None of them looked concerned by the threat. In fact, they looked like they had no idea what he was saying. What was the matter with the three of them? He could see Nora doing this as a prank, but why would Pyrrha and Ren go along with it?_

_And for that matter, why did his skin feel really itchy and fuzzy for some reason?_

"_Sounds like someone's a grumpy-wumpy Faunus-Jaune," Pyrrha said. "Maybe he's hungry? Ren, why don't you feed him some breakfast?" _

"_Sure thing." Ren went over to the cabinets and pulled out a tin. He popped it open then held it through the bars. "Eat up, Faunus-Jaune. A fed faunus is a happy faunus." _

_Jaune stared at the contents in disgust. He didn't need to read the label to see what it was. Ren was trying to feed him cat food!_

"_You're out of your mind if you think I'm eating that crap!" he snarled, slapping the can out of Ren's hand. "For the last time, get me out of this-"_

_Jaune paused. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. _

_Bright orange hair covered his entire hand. He was so hairy, he couldn't even see the skin of his palms. He checked his other hand and saw that it was incredibly hairy too. But puberty was years ago! What was going on? _

_He ran his fingers across his hand. The hair didn't feel like normal hair. It was too soft and wavy, almost as if it were… fur…_

"_Uh oh," Nora said. "Looks like Faunus-Jaune's been naughty. Attacking humans is a big no-no. I think someone needs to be punished."_

_Jaune whipped out his scroll from his onesie pocket. He looked at his reflection in the screen. He shrieked. _

_His entire face was covered in the same fur as his hands. His blue eyes had turned yellow with black slits for pupils. Long whiskers grew from his cheeks, and his nose shrunk into a tiny pinkish thing. Atop his hair were two large cat ears that twitched slightly. Even his Pumpkin Pete onesie had changed- the bunny on his chest had been replaced with a smiling cat. _

"_How did this happen to me?" he screamed. "Look at me! I'm a freaky cat-person! How is this possible?"_

"_Stop being so loud, Faunus-Jaune," Pyrrha scolded, wagging her finger at him. "You were very bad attacking poor Ren like that. You need to be taught a lesson." _

"_Stop calling me Faunus-Jaune! I'm not even a faunus! I'm… I don't know what I am now! I look like someone's fetish!" _

_Ren put his hands on his hips and sighed. "I guess there's nothing to be done. We did our best, but he needs some real discipline. Looks like it's off to the dust mines with you, Faunus-Jaune." _

"_The dust- what? What are you talking about?" _

_The door burst open and Jaune saw Weiss walk into the room followed by loads of copies of herself. This would've been like one of his fantasies, except they were all wearing SDC business suits and had white moustaches. Several of them came by the cage and lifted it up in the air. _

_One of the Weiss' approached his team. "We understand you have a faunus here in need of some punishment?" The Weiss clone said in the deepest, most pompous voice it could do. _

_Nora nodded. "That's right. Faunus-Jaune's been a naughty kitty. Throw him in the dust mine for a few years. That oughta make him good again." _

"_You want to do what?" Jaune exclaimed. _

_The Weiss twirled its moustache enthusiastically. "With pleasure," she chortled. "No faunus survives our mines unscathed. Mark our words, we shall whittle away this creature's wickedness even if it takes forever." _

"_Sounds good to us," his team said in unison._

_The Weiss addressed the other Weiss' holding him up. "Take this lowlife away, girls!" she commanded. _

_The Weiss' began to march out of the room with him. This couldn't be happening!_

"_No, wait, you got it all wrong!" he shouted, bashing against the bars in an attempt to free himself. "You can't do this to me! I'm not a faunus! I'm not saying faunus deserve to be thrown in the dust mines, but even if they were you can't do this to me because I'm not one of them! I need a human jail with all my fellow humans!" _

"_Don't worry, we'll miss you too, Faunus-Jaune," Nora said with a wave. "We'll send you your favourite collar so you can remember us." _

"_Come on, guys, don't leave me like this!" he pleaded. "I'll do whatever you want. You can scratch my ears and rub my belly as much as you want. I'll eat whatever mice we have. Faunus-Jaune is a good kitty!" _

"_This is for the best, Faunus-Jaune," Ren promised. "By the time you see the sunlight again, you'll be a well-trained faunus capable of not hurting your human masters. Until then, enjoy years of mining away for little crystals with nothing but your bare paws." _

"_Goddammit, Ren, now's not the time to sound enthusiastic about something for once in your life! Get me outta here!" _

_Pointless. It was obvious his team weren't listening to his pleas. There was nothing he could do to prevent his impending doom._

_How could fate be so cruel? Sure, he deserved some punishment for forging his transcripts, but this was too much. It wasn't his fault he woke up as some six-foot anthropomorphic feline abomination. He had been human a few minutes ago, for God's sake! _

_As the Weiss' carried him through the hallway, he saw Pyrrha standing outside their door. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "I'm not sorry!" she called out to him. _

[/]

Jaune awoke with a scream. Sweat poured down his body like raindrops.

Wasting no time, he inspected his hands. No fur. Good start. He pulled out his scroll and looked at his reflection. A nice normal human face stared back at him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream. That was good.

Then he looked down. He was in a tree again. That was bad.

Crap.


	8. Chapter 8

**Cover art - Mike (Now he won't return my calls! He called me crazy! Me! Crazy! Can you believe it?) **

**Chapter 8 - Humanities Excommunication **

* * *

Jaune scowled. It was not the same tree as last time, but it was still going to be a bitch to get down from it. From here on out, he was gonna start chaining himself to his bed every night before he went to sleep.

"Looks like someone had a bad dream," came a very familiar voice.

Jaune turned his head right. His trusty tree-companion Blake waved at him.

"Morning, Jaune," she said.

Jaune hung his head in despair. Deja Vu. "Morning, Blake."

"Aww, don't look so glum. Look what I've got this time." She held up Gambol Shroud. "This'll be much easier than last time. I'll get us down after we eat."

"What's on the menu today?" he sighed.

"We got lucky. I know for a fact that there are tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches in these trees. I dunno why I don't make those sandwiches for every tree. I don't think about these things when I'm making them."

It disturbed him how accepting he was of all of this. He simply had bigger things to worry about that being stuck in a tree.

That nightmare… that was more than just a bad dream. He had taken a brief glimpse into the future. A future where he was paraded around like a monster. A future where all his friends cast him aside.

A future that gradually seemed to be getting closer every day.

Gods, he was hungry.

He ravenously chewed into his sandwich when he retrieved it from its branch. The fishy goodness brought him some level of comfort. He knew it would. It was appealing to his faunus side after all…

"So, what did you think of them?" Blake said as she chewed.

Jaune looked at her. "Think of what?"

"The books you borrowed from my collection."

"How do you know about that?"

"Yang told me."

"She did what?" she groaned. "Gods, that was supposed to be a secret. I even sat through that dreadful movie marathon to get her to keep her mouth shut."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever known Yang to be tight-lipped about anything? She'd speak out loud her diary entries if she owned one."

Jaune grunted.

"You should've seen her when I came back," Blake said. "She wasn't happy with me. She accused me of somehow 'corrupting' you and swaying you over to my wicked ways. Her words, not mine."

A shudder passed through Jaune. There was some truth in those words, but not in the sense she meant.

"Don't worry, I'm not annoyed about it," Blake reassured him. "You chose some good ones. _Lover's Full Moon _is a classic. What made you choose it?"

_Lover's Full Moon_. That was the book he was reading last night.

"I guess it spoke to me," he said. "A story about someone struggling with his inner self, trying to fit into a society that would reject him if it found out the truth about him… yeah, I can relate to that."

"Same here," Blake said eagerly. "But by pushing himself away from other people, he makes himself more isolated than what society could ever make him."

"The whole story is a cry for help. A lonely soul with a troubled past forced into submission not just from others, but from himself too. He fears what others think of him, but cannot bear to face the truth himself. Isolation is both his solace and his prison."

Blake looked moved by his words. "You understand it so well, Jaune," she said.

The compliment felt bittersweet. "Like I said, I can relate."

Silence hung in the air.

"Hey, Blake?" he said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"What's it like being a faunus?"

Blake let out a loud groan. "Oh my God, where to begin? Well for starters, we're constantly being oppressed by humans every day of our lives! The pay wage gap between humans and faunus is wider than Port's waistline, and don't even get me started on-!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Jaune quickly cut in, saving himself an earful of rambling. "Okay, lemme change the question- what does it _feel _like to be a faunus?"

"Feel?"

"Yeah, feel. Are there any specific feelings you get that you know only faunus experience? Do you ever wake up some days and think, 'yeah, this is definitely a faunus thing I'm feeling right now.'? You ever feel faunus-ey, Blake?"

Blake scratched her chin. "Hard to say. I've never known any other lifestyle. Sometimes I have trouble wearing hats- my ears keep knocking them off my head. But that's about it really. Why do you ask?"

Jaune leaned back against the tree. "I dunno," he admitted. "It's probably pointless to talk about it now. But I've been feeling faunus-ey lately. You've probably seen it already, given how weird I've been behaving lately."

"You've been acting weird?" Blake said, sounding surprised. "I hadn't noticed."

That didn't surprise him. The two were one and the same.

"That may be so," he said. "But come on, fighting over fish? Chasing red dots? Waking up in trees? You gotta know that isn't normal human behaviour."

"I'm not sure I'm the best judge on what is _human _behaviour. You'd be the authority on that, not me."

"I'm not so sure anymore…"

"What do you mean?"

Jaune closed his eyes. He appreciated the gentle rustle of the leaves as the wind blew against them. It helped ease his mind. If he could focus on that and not think about his progressing metamorphosis, perhaps he would find peace? That would be nice.

"I used to think my thoughts were my own, and that I was in control of my life," he said. "Now though, everything's blurred. There's something else in the driver's seat, not just in my head- but in my soul. A new presence has appeared. It's aggressive, it's dominant, it's… beastlike. A roaring spirit that's scratching its way to the surface. My body is its cage, and for the past few days, it's been clawing away one bar at a time. But the cage won't hold forever. It will be free."

He opened his eyes and looked at Blake. She was staring at him with an intense gaze.

"Blake, I'm changing," he said. "I don't know why I'm telling you this before my team, but this new presence is telling me I can trust you. These feelings - which I'm sure are faunus feelings - are controlling my every move. My every thought. I feel more connected to you than any fellow human. I can't bring this up with them and it makes me feel isolated."

"Jaune… are you saying what I think you're saying?" Blake whispered.

"There's no doubt in my mind. You've already seen the signs. You've been with me every step of the way so far. You understand why I've been doing the things that I do lately… and I understand why you do it too.

"You know what lurks in my soul. We are connected, don't you see? Bound by the genes that make us what we are. The transformation is already upon me, Blake. I don't know how long it'll be now, but my heart, my mind, my soul… it's that of a faunus. I'm becoming faunus, Blake."

He left out the part where this had all started when Blake bit him. He didn't want her to feel like she was the cause of all this. Even though she absolutely was. The jerk.

Blake silently swung herself over to his tree. She sat on his branch, inches away from him. Jaune had never seen her look so serious. She had always looked stoic, but this was something else. This was… double-serious.

"I understand completely what you're talking about," she said double-seriously.

"You do?"

"Of course. I just never thought it could be possible."

"Can't blame you for that. It is pretty far fetched. I thought my kind were only supposed to exist in legends- _grrfd!_"

Jaune nearly had his lungs crushed from the strength of Blake's sudden hug. Her surprisingly strong grip slowed the blood flow to his brain, preventing him from questioning why she was hugging him in the first place.

"I never thought I'd see the day!" Blake wept- _wept?_ What was up with her? "This is exactly what I've been fighting for! All those years of terrorism have finally paid off!"

"B-Blake!" Jaune wheezed. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to be so humble. I should have seen it earlier. All those times you mirrored my behaviour… it all makes sense now!"

"Then you understand what's happening to me?" He wished he shared her joy over his curse.

Her eyes were tearful when she looked at him. "I do. You're trying to better understand what it's like to be a faunus!"

Jaune blinked. "Uh… what?"

"I've never met a human so open-minded as you. To walk a mile in our shoes and see the injustice our kind face first-hand… you're incredible, Jaune! If all humans were like you, Remnant would be paradise. Not even my own team is as understanding as you."

He tried prying himself free. Why did every girl at Beacon have to be so ridiculously strong? Even the slimmer ones had a grip like a vice. "Um, Blake, I think you got it all wrong," he struggled. "This isn't some kind of spiritual journey that I'm on-"

"No, no, of course not," Blake agreed. "This is a way of life. You've adopted our mindset and mannerisms to better understand us. You should've told me sooner. I would have supported you every step of the way!"

Blake finally released him, giving him a chance to catch his breath. He was too busy sucking in lungfuls of air to correct her.

"There's just one more step you've got to take," she said. "Just one more step to better understand what it's like to be a faunus. But first, let's get out of this stupid tree."

She slung him over her shoulder as she used Gambol Shroud to get them down. She let him down when they touched the ground.

"Get changed and meet me back here," she said. "There's something I want to show you."

"Blake, seriously, I don't think you understand what I'm saying," Jaune tried reasoning with her.

Her expression was that of pity. "I don't blame you for being suspicious. It must be hard for you to trust people, having gone through such a rigorous challenge by yourself. But I'm here for you. Now come on, don't dilly-dally. Your brothers and sisters await."

[/]

Blake had dragged him to a district in Vale where some kind of political rally was going on. Thousands of faunus marched through the streets carrying signs with angry messages about equality written on them. They stretched for miles, chanting at the top of their lungs. It was a loud and wild place to be.

Jaune would've been lost in the crowd if it hadn't been for Blake. "Is this one of those White Fang meetups I've heard about?" he asked her, trying to make himself heard over the crowd.

"Nah, this is different," Blake said. "Just because I'm no longer White Fang doesn't mean I don't get involved in protests anymore."

"Sure, sure. Just remind me why I need to be here again?"

"This is your final step to becoming one with your inner faunus, Jaune. By taking part in rally's like this, you'll hear the true voice of your brothers and sisters. You'll understand what it's truly like to be one of us."

Jaune didn't have the heart to tell her that she had this all wrong. She looked so passionate about this, he didn't want to crush her spirit. He decided to just roll with it. It wasn't like he was against equality anyway.

Blake handed him a sign. "Okay, here's what you gotta do now," she explained. "You gotta take that sign and you gotta raise it in the air."

"Like this?" Jaune raised the sign.

"No, no, no, more aggressive than that. Thrust it harder, like you're trying to pierce the heavens with your words of truth."

"So… like this?" He thrust the sign up like he was wielding Crocea Mors.

Blake pulled a so-so face. "You'll get the hang of it eventually."

He'd get the hang of holding a sign?

"Now then, when we march we move as one body and mind," Blake said. "We are unified in our goals to fight back against oppression. Just follow the crowd and you will become part of this body. You will feel the love and acceptance flowing into you. You ready to feel it, Jaune?"

"Sure, why not? Gimme all that good stuff."

"Great. Then let's go!"

They marched with the crowd through the streets of Vale. Jaune had no idea where they were going or how long this was going to take. He hoped there would be lunch and toilet breaks in between all this walking. He tried asking Blake, but she was too lost in her passionate chanting to notice him.

He looked at all the other protesters. He seemed to be the only human in the crowd- well, as human as he could be until his eventual transformation.

One of them caught his eye- a girl with deer antlers. "No need to hide your faunus traits here, friend," she said. "Everyone's welcome here."

"Actually, I don't have any," he said.

"You don't?"

"He's not faunus," Blake said, quickly appearing behind him. "He's a human here to support us."

The girl's eyes widened. "Are you serious? You're seriously a human, not a faunus?"

Jaune wasn't sure how to answer that. "I'm sort of in an in-between state, to be honest."

"That's right," Blake beamed proudly, patting him on the back. "He's learning how to adopt faunus mentality in order to become more open-minded."

"That's not what I mean-"

"That. Is. HOT!" the girl breathed. "The world needs more men like you." She quickly scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Here's my number," she purred. "Lemme know if you ever want to get into an 'in-between' state with me in bed sometime."

That was all the motivation Jaune needed to get him to raise his sign proudly, and roar the words everyone was chanting with the same amount of passion too. This was the kind of love and acceptance he could get used to!

"What do we want?" One of the lead marchers shouted.

"Equality!" they all repeated.

"What _don't _we want?"

"Not equality!"

"When do we want it?"

"Now!"

"When _don't _we want it?"

"Tomorrow, next year, when we're stuck in traffic, or any other time when it's otherwise inconvenient!"

The powerful words echoed throughout the city, carrying a message that caught the ears of every passerby.

Eventually, the marching stopped in front of a large stage in the middle of Vale's park. Jaune thought a band would start playing there, but instead, a single man took the microphone in the centre of the stage. He was also a faunus, unless the large crocodile tail protruding from his back was just for show. Everyone in the crowd immediately stopped chanting the moment they saw him.

Blake patted Jaune's arm excitedly. "You'll like this," she whispered. "This is the best part."

Jaune waited for what the man had to say.

The speaker cleared his throat. "My brothers and sisters!" he boomed. "For too long, we have been oppressed by the man- the hu-man! The man asks us to hide what we are, to keep our mouths shut, to be a slave to the system! The man asks us to be ashamed of our heritage, so as to not shatter their precious bubble of reality- a reality that is built on the mistreatment and discrimination of faunus. The man does all this because they fear us! And as we all know, fear is born of ignorance. My brothers and sisters, we live in an ignorant society where those with power spit on those that they do not understand. Well, now's the time for the ignorant and stupid to open their eyes and see us for what we really are."

He spoke with a real fire-and-brimstone kind of tone. Jaune found himself engrossed in everything he was saying. It was impossible for him to turn his attention away.

"I look at you all, my brothers and sisters, and you know what I see? Only the bravest and strongest folk to ever walk this planet. I already know that most of you here face some kind of oppression every day from the man. They look down on you, treat y'all like animals. Maybe even ask you to hide your animal traits? They ask - nay, _demand_ \- you to conform to their rules, while at the same time making you a slave to them too! I know you know what I'm talking about. I can see that righteous fire in your eyes."

Jaune was stunned. Every word the man spoke was like lighting striking his every thought. Each jolt brought newfound clarity and understanding to his situation.

The man was right. For the last few days, Jaune had been judged by his friends and colleagues for his strange behaviour. They looked at him as if he were some kind of freak. The only person who seemed to understand him was Blake. His fellow faunus. His fellow sister…

In that moment, Jaune felt his faunus side howl inside him. The man's words lit newfound energy deep within his soul. He was so sick of it. Sick of trying to explain his behaviour. Sick of people who were too ignorant to understand what it was like to be him.

He felt stupid worrying about his transformation. He had let himself be fooled by the web of lies strung by the society he lived in. Cardin had tried to convince him he was cursed. How wrong he was. This wasn't a curse. It was a blessing.

He wasn't an anomaly, a monster, something to be locked away and silenced.

He was faunus! And he was proud of it, damn it!

"Well today, my brothers and sisters, I say let the man be scared. Show the man that you are not ashamed of what you are. Wear your heritage like a badge of honour. Show the world that you deserve to live in it, just like every other human. Do not allow anyone to tell you how to behave, how to dress, how to conform. In all of us runs the blood of beasts. Let it be your confidence. Let it give you the freedom to live your own life. And once you break down the cage that holds back your spirit - the cage that the man has forced you to build - my brothers and sisters… only then will you truly be free!"

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Everyone screamed praise for the speaker and his inspiring words. Even Blake was punching the air, cheering in appreciation.

For most of his life, Jaune had felt lost. He was always unsure of himself. Even his dream of becoming a huntsman was one he still questioned. Every choice he had made seemed daunting and confusing. There was never a moment in his life he didn't doubt himself.

But not this moment. At last he had acceptance. Direction.

Thousands of faunus voices cried out in joy that afternoon. If one listened closely, his could be heard joining in.


	9. Chapter 9

**Cover art - Mike (That's it! If I can't have him, no one can!)**

**Chapter 9 - Heretical Indoctrination**

* * *

Pyrrha re-read the same message for what was probably the tenth time today.

_"I'll be back sometime later today. Don't wait up for me." _

That was what he had sent them. Easier said than done. If he had told them all about his plans the night before, maybe then she wouldn't be worrying so much. But as it stood now? There was a lot to be concerned about.

"You're getting yourself too worked up, Pyrrha," Ren said.

"And you're too relaxed for my liking," Pyrrha argued. "Don't you think it's strange that he disappeared this morning without so much as a word? Aren't you a little bit concerned about his whereabouts?"

"Jaune can look after himself," Nora said, flicking through the pages of her history textbook. "He doesn't need to tell us every single little thing he plans to do. At least he didn't wake us up at the crack of dawn this time."

Pyrrha frowned. That wasn't a satisfying answer.

"He sent us all that message," Ren said. "I trust that he's fine. From what I hear, Blake also vanished this morning. Maybe he's with her?"

"Oooh, maybe that's why he kept his plans to himself?" Nora teased. "Maybe the two of them are on a date? Uh, no offense, Pyrrha."

"I hope that is the case," she said truthfully. "While that would be unfortunate for me, it'd put my mind at ease. At least I'd know he's with someone I trust and not kidnapped."

Ren let out a chuckle. "Kidnapped? Pyrrha, who would want to kidnap Jaune of all people? And what for?"

Pyrrha sighed. "I don't know. I'm just worrying."

"Yes, you are," Ren agreed. "Take your mind off it for now. If he's not back before dark, then we'll start looking for him. But Nora's right, Jaune can take care of himself. You of all people should know that."

"I know, I know…"

He handed her a textbook. "Until then, Oobleck's test is in a few days. Use whatever energy you have to study for it."

Pyrrha took the book from his hand. It was going to be difficult studying when she had so much on her mind, but he was right. Even she needed to prepare for whatever the eccentric professor threw their way.

"Well, wherever he is right now, I bet he's having more fun than us," Nora grumbled. "Ren, I've been reading this book for hours now. Can we pleeeassse just take a break already?"

"That depends," Ren said. "Who commanded the faunus legions at the Battle of Myrestone?"

Nora paused.

"Well, there's your answer."

"Come oooooon!" Nora moaned. "When did you care so much about learning and books anyway? You were never like this when we were kids!"

"We're part of a team now, and everyone in a team must play their part," Ren explained. "Jaune's the leader, you're the muscle, Pyrrha's the negotiator, and I'm the brains. My job is to make sure we all pass."

"Hey, why am I _just_ the muscle?" Nora protested. "I'm more than just a tank on legs. I'll have you know, I'm great at planning out battles."

"Nora, name one battle plan of yours that's been effective so far,"

"I can name you hundreds! It's not my fault you were too scared to use them. I'm telling you, if we weaponized those Goliaths, we'd be the strongest team in Beacon."

"And what exactly makes me the negotiator?" Pyrrha asked.

"You apologise a lot," Ren said. "That helps calm people down, makes them trust you."

"What are you talking about? I don't apologise a lot… do I?"

Ren and Nora looked at her with flat expressions.

Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. "Well if I do, it's because I'm trying to be friendly. I'm not looking to make any enemies."

"Exactly. That's a personality trait perfectly befitting for a negotiator," Ren said.

Pyrrha noted his tone. "I don't think I've ever heard you sound so smug before, Ren."

A tiny smirk curled on Ren's face. "Not smug - satisfied. It's nice being right. That's why I'm the brains."

Pyrrha giggled. "Alright then, Mr Brains. Help me get top marks on the test, and we'll see if you live up to your title."

But before learning and any other educational progress could be made, the door creaked open. The three of them looked up and saw a familiar face walk in.

Jaune was back.

Pyrrha felt elated. Not only was he unharmed, but he also looked happy. He wore a big smile on his face. Whatever worries she had dissolved instantly.

"There you are!" she cried, rushing over to him.

Jaune's smile grew wider. "Good to see you too, Pyrrha. How have you been?"

"How have I been? I…"

She was quickly reminded of how she felt earlier. As thrilled as she was to see him again, that didn't excuse his sudden absence.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," she said sternly. "You completely disappeared this morning. You didn't even give us a heads up as to what you were doing. Where were you? Why didn't you tell us about your plans face-to-face?"

He chuckled. "My apologies, I woke up in a tree again this morning. By the time I got down, I was so wrapped up in what I was doing, I forgot to give you any details. I hope I didn't make you guys worry too much."

"I wasn't worried. Just next time-"

"Whoa, hold on! Did you just say you weren't worried?" Nora laughed. "So did I just imagine you saying he was kidnapped a few minutes ago? Ren, was I imagining things?"

"I might have heard it too," he said.

Pyrrha felt like her face was on fire. "I… T-That's not..." Her speech devolved into a gibbering mess. "Jaune, don't listen to them! They're leaving out important context!"

"You should've seen her," Nora said with an impish grin on her face. "She was ready to put on a cape and dash off to rescue you. You really shouldn't scare her like that, Jaune. She's a delicate soul."

"I'm not delicate! It was just a hypothetical suggestion! Jaune, you have to believe me!"

"It's alright, Pyrrha," Jaune said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I appreciate your concern for me. It's adorable."

It would have been wonderful for Pyrrha if the ground decided to swallow her up right then and there. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this embarrassed.

"So where were you anyway?" Ren asked. "And is there a reason why you're dressed like… that?"

Pyrrha looked down at his attire. She hadn't noticed his clothes when he walked in. It amazed her how she didn't.

Instead of his hoodie, he was wearing a black T-shirt with the words '#freethetail' written in bold white capital letters. A necklace with a cat's face was around his neck. Dangling from his wrists were several bracelets that looked like broken chains. Flyers and pamphlets were spilling out of his pockets.

Jaune stretched his arms. "Do you like it?" he said proudly. "These are the clothes of my brothers and sisters. This is what we clad ourselves in as we march through the streets, fighting against the oppression of all faunus everywhere."

"Oh, you went to a protest?" Nora said. "That's awesome. The getup is kinda weird, but still awesome. I didn't know you were into that sort of thing."

"Neither did I," Jaune said. "But having just walked down the path of enlightenment, I've never felt better. Everything makes sense to me now. My soul is swimming in a river of light. Every paddle fills me with warmth and rapture."

There was a pause as everyone took a moment to absorb what he had just said.

Even Nora looked puzzled by his words, especially when he shuddered in what looked like sexual pleasure, or something close enough to it. "Uh… cool?" she said slowly.

"The clothes are not something I'd expect you to wear," Pyrrha said, trying to be polite. "But I think it's nice to see you in something other than your hoodie for a change."

Jaune let out a disgusted scoff. "Anything is nicer than that wretched thing. I shan't be wearing that hate symbol any longer!"

Had Pyrrha been drinking anything, she would've spat it out all over his new clothes. "Hate symbol?" she spluttered. She couldn't believe those words were coming out of his mouth.

"That's right!" Jaune said. "Pumpkin Pete is just another example of humans mocking the enslavement of faunus by parading one around as a cereal mascot! It's absolutely sickening!"

"... I don't think Pumpkin Pete is a faunus, Jaune."

"Yes he is! He's an anthropomorphic bunny capable of speech, being forced by his greedy human overlords to push their despicable agenda! Why it makes me so angry, I could… I could…!"

Jaune walked over to the desk and picked up a pen. He dropped it on the floor. The pen hit the carpet softly, barely making a noise.

Jaune suddenly staggered back and gripped his chest. His breathing was deep and heavy. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "I'm still trying to balance my animal side. Sometimes I lose control and I… I just go crazy. That was way too violent of me. I hope I didn't scare you."

Pyrrha was at a loss for words. She thought she was used to Jaune's recently strange behaviour. But it seemed every day he kept finding new ways to surprise her.

Jaune quickly recovered and returned to his happy attitude. "But enough about me. What were you guys doing when I was out on my noble crusade."

Pyrrha quickly seized the opportunity to change the conversation to a normal topic. "Studying for Oobleck's history test," she said. "We've been at it pretty much all day.

"All day," Nora echoed grimly.

"You should join us. When it comes to Oobleck, we need all the preparation we can get."

Jaune nodded. "I agree. It's good to remind ourselves of the atrocities committed against faunus by humans."

"Right…" Pyrrha handed him a textbook. "We're on chapter seventeen, though I'm sure we can catch you up to speed with what we've already covered."

Jaune inspected the book. "Yeah, I guess I can spare a few minutes before I- wait a minute! Who wrote this book?"

Pyrrha frowned. "Um, someone called Boris Kleg?"

Jaune flicked through his scroll muttering the name to himself. After a few seconds, he said, "Ah, here we are. Says here he's a human."

"So?"

Jaune moved to fast for Pyrrha to react. He threw the book out of the open window like it was a grenade about to explode.

Pyrrha's head spun. "What?" she yelped. "Jaune, what are you doing?"

"I'm saving us from corruption," he said calmly. "I won't allow your eyes to be tainted by lies and deceit any longer."

"Jaune, that's the official textbook given to us by Oobleck! You have to read it!"

"I _have _to read it? Are you saying I have no free will? That I must bow to your regime and consume your false truths?"

"... what? No, I'm saying it's compulsory. We _all _have to read it. I was reading it just now!"

Jaune steeled himself. "I see. Then I apologise for thinking you were trying to push your whip-cracking agenda onto me. Regardless, I won't be reading it. It's written by a human and as we all know, humans are tyrants. They twist the truth in order to suit their diabolical desires for domination."

"I… I don't… what?" Pyrrha cried. How many times had she said 'what' today? "That's completely ridiculous!"

"I am merely stating the facts. Inside every human is a compulsive need for conquest, to smite down those they consider beneath them. Books like this are part of the problem. Humans warp history in their favour, spurring their wicked urges to purge innocent faunus. They make the world a darker place."

"Do you even hear yourself right now? You sound like one of those White Fang radicals! How can you even say that when you're a human yourself-?"

"I hereby forbid books like that from being in this room!" he loudly declared.

"I support this decision one-hundred percent!" Nora immediately said, throwing her copy out the window too.

Pyrrha looked at her in horror. "Nora, you don't honestly agree with what he's saying, do you?" she gasped.

"Of course not, he sounds crazy. But I'll take any excuse I can get to stop reading that thing."

Nora was calling him crazy. _Nora_. This was worse than she thought.

"Jaune, where is this coming from?" Pyrrha said. "You vanish this morning, you come back dressed like that, and now you're talking like this! What's going on with you?"

Jaune's eyes sparkled. "Well, I wish I could say I figured out the truth all by myself, but I had a little help along the way. Bust as I was saying, books like that are bad for our souls. We don't need that kind of mental enslavement in our lives. If you want to learn some real history, I've got exactly the education you need right here. Don't worry, I've got enough for all of you."

He handed out the flyers in his pocket to them. Pyrrha inspected it. _Faunus life - The Untold Truth_ was the title. The cover art featured a faunus in shackles getting tomatoes thrown at it by humans.

She flicked through the pages. She didn't need to read the whole thing to know it was a load of nonsense- with the way all the humans had devil horns, and how they sacrificed a faunus on an altar underneath a banner with the SDC logo on it, bowing in worship as they did so.

"Jaune, this all reads like propaganda," Ren said, voicing her thoughts exactly. "Not even good propaganda. I'm not convinced in the slightest."

"Although the part where the elephant faunus sprays that human with lava from his trunk is pretty cool," Nora hummed as she read through flyer.

"It's not propaganda, it's the truth," Jaune insisted. "Blake told me herself. This right here is the real deal-"

"Did you say Blake told you?" Pyrrha sharply interrupted. "She was with you today?"

"Oh yes," he said eagerly. "She woke up in a tree next to me this morning. She got me down and took me to the rally. I had my doubts at first, but she showed me the light. She helped me understand what I am. Now look at me- I am the very definition of acceptance."

Pyrrha changed her mind. Blake was absolutely _not _a trustworthy person. She didn't know what she had said to Jaune during their little outing, but if it made him start acting like this it couldn't have been healthy.

"She's incredible, you know," he sighed, speaking in a dream-like state. "She gets me. The two of us are so alike. I can't believe I didn't notice it before. When I look at her, it's like I'm looking in a mirror."

"A broken mirror," Nora muttered under her breath.

"Anyway, I can't stay for too long," he said. "I'm meeting up with her again in a few minutes. We're gonna throw darts at a picture of some red-haired guy with a mask, and then go shopping for books. You should read some of the stuff she owns. Her collection is amazing."

He was going to see her again? Oh no...

"Jaune, perhaps I'm being too judgemental in saying this, but I don't think it's a good idea to spend time with Blake at the moment," Pyrrha said gently. "I think she might be a bad influence on you."

Jaune looked like she had just slapped him. "Bad influence? How could you say that about her?" he gasped.

"I agree with Pyrrha," Ren said. "We've all noticed you've been acting strange recently, and it's no coincidence that Blake's always by your side when you have your little moments. It's likely she's the cause of all this."

"Has Blake been sharing some strange-looking needles with you?" Nora asked. "Because honestly, I know several brands of energy drinks that can give you the same effect as them, and are probably cheaper too. Oh, and legal. That's important."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" he exclaimed. "Blake is my rock! If it weren't for her, I'd be lost and scared!"

"Blake's a good person, don't get us wrong," Pyrrha quickly followed up. "But surely you can understand our concerns. We're only saying this because we're looking out for you. This behaviour… it isn't you. We're just trying to get the old you back, if you know what we mean."

Betrayal flitted across Jaune's face. He looked at the three of them puzzled and bewildered, as if he was the only normal person in the room. His mouth opened and closed, struggling to form words.

Then his eyes lit up. "The old me…" he whispered. "Yes… I know exactly what you mean..."

Pyrrha stared at him worryingly. "Jaune?"

Jaune's body relaxed. A small smile full of pity stretched across his lips. "I understand your fears," he said gently. "I don't blame you for it. I was like you once. It's simply your kind's nature to be suspicious of things you do not understand."

The three of them blinked at the same time. "Uh… what?" Nora said.

"Blake's been the only one who truly understands what I'm going through - what I'm transforming into," he continued. "I knew I couldn't go to you guys for help. Right from the start, I knew you'd turn me away. Don't take it personally- any of your species would. Years of controlling us have made you fearful of what we're capable of. You'd label me a monster and cast me aside so that your self-perceived status quo can be restored."

Suddenly, Jaune pulled them all into a hug. His long arms gave him enough reach to squeeze them all together. Pyrrha and Ren both had their faces buried against his shoulders. Poor Nora was squashed somewhere in the middle, no doubt suffocating.

"But as I said, I don't blame you," he said in a tone that made him sound like he was speaking to a group of children. "You can mistreat and distrust me and Blake for what we are as much as you want. It won't make a difference. I'll still love you despite your kind's inherent flaws. Prejudice won't stop me. I'll unite our two species together no matter how much you resist me. You guys deserve it.

Pyrrha tried to say something, but having your face shoved into someone's shoulder tended to disrupt one's speech. She could only manage muffled grunts. Ren and Nora weren't faring much better.

The door opened. Blake stood in the doorway holding the picture of the man Jaune was talking about, as well as several darts. She grinned devilishly. "I've got them all nice and sharpened," she told Jaune, gesturing to the darts.

Jaune finally released them. Pyrrha and Ren struggled for breath, while Nora looked to be nearly unconscious on the floor. "I have to go now," he said. "I hope that one day you can put your past grievances aside and allow acceptance into your heart. Until then, as Brother Manadook once said: walk with the pack by your side."

Jaune put his hands together and gave a small bow, before heading off with Blake.

The three of them watched him go with stunned expressions. It was like a stranger who looked like Jaune had walked in, preached a bunch of madness, then skipped off leaving them with more questions than answers.

"Did… did he just call us a bunch of racist humans?" Pyrrha eventually said.

"That's what it sounded like to me," Ren mused. "At least he tried putting it in a polite way."

"For the record, if this is how I sound when you guys say I'm talking crazy, I apologise and I'll never do it again," Nora said, still on the floor.

"I still stand by what I said," Pyrrha murmured. "Blake is somehow responsible for his behaviour. I have no idea how though."

"We can't exactly forbid him from seeing her," Nora said. "We're not his parents."

"Then what are we to do?"

"Brace ourselves," Ren said quietly. "Because until we figure out what's going on, I have a feeling that things are only going to get stranger."

Ren didn't need to be the brains of the group to figure that out…


	10. Chapter 10

**Cover art - Mike (Sorry for the wait on this one. I just heard some distressing news. Mike is dead. Someone - and I don't know who - broke into his apartment and shot him ten times in the face. Who would do such a thing? Oh well, at least he had a good friend like me.) **

**Chapter 10 - Blasphemous Union**

* * *

"Mr Arc? Ms Belladonna?"

Bartholomew Oobleck felt his patience twinge. Neither of his students was listening to him. They weren't even looking at him. Their faces were hidden behind the books they were reading. Normally he encouraged his students to read more, but not at a time like this.

He felt his eye twitch. "Mr Arc and Ms Belladonna!" he said in a louder, sterner voice.

The two of them slowly lowered their books so that their eyes were peering out at him. The bottom halves of their faces were still covered.

"Yes, Doctor, how can we help you?" Jaune sighed.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't take that tone with me, Mr Arc," Bart said. "I didn't call you two here for my benefit. On the contrary, I'd rather not be here at all."

"You'd rather not be in your own office?" Blake asked.

"Under these circumstances, no."

"I'm afraid we can't help you there, sir," Jaune said. "Now then, if you'll excuse us…"

The two raised the books up again.

"Again, this is not about me!" Bart said with an edge in his voice. It took all of his patience not to snap at them for their snarky behaviour. "If you don't put those books down, I shall have to take them from you."

The two of them let out a groan that lasted two minutes - that was not an exaggeration, he counted the seconds in his head. They put their books down once they were done complaining.

"I was halfway through the chapter," Blake grumbled. "If I space out during this meeting, it's because you made me distracted thinking about what's going to happen. I accept your apology."

"You're not allowed to read during detention, Ms Belladonna," Bart said. "Especially when that book is clearly not an official study… guide…"

He trailed off when he looked down at the book and saw the contents written inside it. His eyes widened like saucers behind his glasses.

_Daryl's tongue slithered into her mouth, trespassing into her territory like a dirty foreigner. His hands gripped Elise's sweet woman flesh that her sixty-eight exes hadn't yet touched. So many obstacles had gotten in the way of this moment; disapproving parents, societal expectations, raging genital warts. But now, the only thing separating them from their destiny were some clothes. First came off the fedoras-_

Bart pulled his gaze away before he could read anymore. Good gods above, they had been reading this in front of him? Did these children have no shame?

He looked up at them. Their expressions were disturbingly neutral, almost bored. Like the whole thing was an inconvenience for them. They didn't care that he had just read their uncouth choice in literature.

The sooner he was done with this detention the better.

"Listen, I don't like this any more than you do," he said, trying to push his attention away from the book. "You two are usually a pleasure to teach. It disappoints me to have to call you in like this."

"Does this mean you'll be letting us go?" Blake said.

"Not until this matter is resolved. Even then, you should expect further punishment."

"I still don't know what this is all about," Jaune said. "Blake and I have done nothing wrong."

"We both know that isn't true."

"I've no reason to lie to you, Doctor. I've got nothing to hide."

There was more truth in that statement than he realised. Bart grimaced as he once again averted his eyes from the open book.

"That's why we're here," he said. "It appears both of you have nothing to hide. The two of you were caught discussing answers with each other during the history test. You didn't even try to be discreet about it, despite the fact you were sitting next to each other."

He had caught the two of them gossiping like wives the moment the test started. They were so loud that even some of the class told them to shut up.

Blake shrugged. "We briefly considered whispering, but it was more convenient for both of us just to speak out loud."

"It made it easier for us to understand what we were saying," Jaune followed up.

"Thanks for that, by the way," Blake told Jaune. "I was struggling with question eight."

"My pleasure."

Bart was baffled. This was hardly the first time he had caught students cheating during a test, but never before had a pair been completely honest about it.

"Then you admit it?" Bart said. "You admit to cheating during the test?"

Blake looked puzzled. "Cheating? You're accusing us of cheating? That's a bold claim to make, don't you think?"

"Ms Belladonna, you just admitted to talking to Mr Arc during the test."

"So?"

"And you admitted to sharing answers with him."

"Your point?"

"... I don't mean to sound condescending, but do I have to spell it out for you?"

"What Blake and I did can hardly be called cheating," Jaune scoffed. "The two of us were merely exchanging answers because we think so alike. Our thoughts are one and the same. The only way for us to become more connected was to get the same answers."

Blake nodded like his explanation made perfect sense to her. "It made no sense to leave things to chance, so just to be safe I shared my answers with him and vice versa. It would save us needless complications down the road. Now are connection is stronger than ever."

It was often said by most people that Bart lived lightyears ahead of everyone. Whilst he did think this was an exaggeration, he was a man who could not be deterred. His thoughts were always moving a mile a minute, giving him the strength to think past shocking and disturbing moments without breaking his rhythm.

This was one of the few instances that made his train of thought screech to a halt.

"You're saying that the reason you cheated is because you wanted to understand each other better?" Bart said slowly.

"We'd be grateful if you didn't say we cheated," Jaune said. "But yes."

"Mr Arc… Ms Belladonna… that is easily the worst excuse I've ever heard in all my years of teaching to justify cheating," he said.

"Is it really cheating if we're of one mind?" Blake said. "If so, who would we be cheating on? Ourselves? Ridiculous."

"I could never cheat on myself. I don't have the balls," Jaune said.

"This is not up for debate," Bart said. "Whatever _connection_ the two of you might think you have is irrelevant. You should know by now that it is forbidden to swap answers during a test. As much as it saddens me to do this, this will be going on your permanent record. Your actions caused great disruption within the class."

The two of them looked at each other thoughtfully. Had he finally gotten through to them?

Jaune's eyes lit up. "Oh, I see his point now," he said. "He's telling us to be quieter the next time we discuss answers. Otherwise, eavesdroppers will copy from us - which _would _be cheating."

"Interesting," Blake murmured. "Perhaps we should do it through text next time? Maybe even interpretive dance?"

"I can get Ren to give us some dancing lessons."

"That's not what I'm saying at all!" Bart barked, beginning to lose his temper. "You shouldn't be exchanging answers with each other _period_. You have to work by yourself. Otherwise, you have an unfair advantage over the rest of the class - although, to be fair, any student would be wise not to copy you if they cared about their grades."

Jaune frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Which brings me to my next point." Bart pulled out their tests and placed them on the desk. "I took the liberty of looking through your tests before this meeting. I haven't marked them yet because I don't see the point. It's obvious from a glance what these papers are worth."

Blake nudged Jaune slightly. "Told you we passed," she said to him.

"Quite the opposite, actually. Let's take a look at what you wrote for question ten." He adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "The question was, explain the battle tactics of Captain Miles Beratson during the Battle of Weepy Gail. Rather than actually answering the question, you wrote, 'Beratson was a dirty scoundrel who fed on the bodies of innocent faunus orphans because he was evil and smelly.'"

The two of them smiled. No apologies, no explanation, nothing. They were proud of what they wrote.

"Moving on to question eleven - where you were asked to name the war crimes of the faunus general Ferris McGregor - you again ignored the question by saying, 'Don't listen to what the government wants you to believe. It's all run by snot-dribbling gremlins and SDC dickheads, who are probably also gremlins.'"

"That was one of my favourites," Jaune chuckled. "It was my choice to call them gremlins."

This was going nowhere. He needed a drink. He reached for his coffee cup. Realised it was empty. After accepting that the world was a dark and cruel place, he forced himself to tackle this issue with a painfully caffeine-free mind.

"I'd be taking this more seriously if I were you," Bart warned. "An illiterate bandit could produce more credible work than the two of you. I'd almost be willing to lessen your punishment had your cheating resulted in producing correct - or at least _acceptable _\- answers. But this! This shows you have absolutely no respect for history or learning!"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong, Doctor," Blake countered. "Jaune and I have nothing but the utmost respect for history. Which is why we answered the questions with brutal honesty."

"Balderdash! I've never heard such a blatant lie in my life. I doubt you even glanced at the textbook I gave you all. If you did, you would have gotten at least one of the questions right."

"That book is full of lies," Jaune scoffed. "Blake and I are free thinkers. We see the truth - the real truth. The truth that the system you're sworn to protect is so desperate to cover up. Their 'history' is nothing more than self-appraisal to their own wicked ways."

"I couldn't have put it better myself," Blake beamed. "You wanted a history test with factual historical answers, and you've been given it. It's not our fault the answers upset your oppressive worldview."

"So as you can see, Doctor, Blake and I are the only ones in the class with top marks on the test. Looks like this meeting's over. I'm glad we could come to a peaceful agreement."

The two of them looked at him like they were the king and queen of Remnant. Meanwhile, Bart was trying to remember if it was legal to beat sense into the heads of students with a baseball bat. They had aura to protect them from any permanent brain damage… then again, these two acted like they already suffered from it…

"Do not seek to challenge me on matters you are clearly inexperienced with," Bart said. "While I understand that there are certain aspects of history that are unpleasant to learn, ignoring them and substituting them for your own reality is foolish. And to proclaim your version as truth is nothing short of madness, especially when evidence points against it."

Jaune placed a hand over his heart and let out a small, offended gasp. "I don't believe this. Blake, is it me or not only has he called us cheaters, he's now calling us liars too?"

"That's what it sounds like to me," Blake murmured.

"I'm not sure what else to call you," Bart said. "If you have no respect for well-documented history, there is no reason I should respect your interpretation of it. Especially when it's so horrendously written."

Blake trembled in her seat. "Wow… I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty oppressed right now."

Jaune placed two fingers on the side of her neck. "Yup, that's definitely oppression I'm feeling," he confirmed. "Gods, you're ripe with it! How about you tone it down a little, Doctor?"

"Oh for goodness sake," Bart groaned. "All I'm asking is that you apply yourself and answer the test with the intended answers. Perhaps you should spend more time reading history books rather than… quite frankly, incredibly inappropriate ones like the ones you have here."

"Inappropriate?" Jaune gawped.

"I can't… I can't take much more of this!" Blake shuddered. Her already pale skin was growing whiter by the second. "Now he's trying to control what we read! The oppression… is too strong!"

"You're quite bold reading such things in front of a teacher," Bart continued. "If books like that are what you enjoy, it's little wonder you failed. Your minds are probably clouded with filthy images of-"

Blake suddenly vomited all over his desk.

"Good heavens!" Bart yelped, quickly jumping out of the way to avoid the brown stream. He managed to save his prized coffee cup, but everything else was ruined.

"Blake!" Jaune yelled. He immediately knelt by her side as she lied twitching on the floor.

"What in blazes is wrong with her?" Bart cried.

Jaune bared his teeth at him. "Your narrow-mindedness has made her physically sick!"

"But I didn't even-!"

"Jaune…" Blake coughed. Her eyes were weary and dazed.

Jaune gripped her hand with both of his. "I'm here for you, Blake," he wept. "He can't hurt you anymore. I'm gonna get you outta here."

"Take me… to… aquarium…"

"Don't worry, I'll take you there now. You'll get to see all the little fishies and you'll feel better in no time."

"Wanna… pet… the stingrays…"

"We will, Blake. We will."

He scooped her up in his arms gently. He picked up their perverted books which had miraculously been untouched by the sick. Probably because they were filthy enough already.

Jaune headed towards the door, glaring at Bart with more malice than even the fiercest Grimm. "If you'll excuse us, we are going to be walking out of here like free men and women," he huffed. "Good day to you, Doctor. I hope you're proud of yourself."

Stunned by the madness that had just occurred, Bart didn't register what he was saying until he was halfway out the door. "Hold on a minute, you still have-"

The door slammed shut.

"-detentions…"

Bart was alone in his office that now reeked of bodily fluids with a hint of fish.

Confused and defeated, he slowly sat back down in his chair, slumping in it the second his rear touched it. He stared blankly at the pungent puddle on his desk. He didn't have the energy to clean it up yet.

Next time he'd let Glynda handle the detentions.


	11. Chapter 11

**Cover art - Mike (It was his funeral today. I was the only one who showed up. I forgot to send the invites. I'm the only one he'd want there anyway)**

**Chapter 11 - Shimmering Reflection**

* * *

Jaune sat under the tree with his eyes glued to his scroll's screen.

The stories he was reading were simply captivating. Every word he read sent waves of emotions he had never felt before crashing through him. This writer was a genius. A pure bloody genius. Their work was on par with the author of Ninjas of Love - maybe even surpassing it if such a thing were possible.

Jaune's stomach rumbled, but he didn't care. Food didn't matter. Water didn't matter. All that mattered was the masterpieces before his eyes. He tried not to blink. He didn't want his eyes off the scroll for a second.

"Incredible," he whispered in awe. "Absolutely incredible."

Alas, those were the only words he had to describe the brilliance before him. His talent for literature and vocabulary wasn't anywhere close to the writer's. Unfortunately, they were the only words that came to mind to express his gratitude.

"Jaune, there you are!" Blake called to him.

Jaune held back a sigh. He didn't want to look up from the story, but he always made exceptions for Blake. He saw her jogging towards him, carrying some kind of box under her arm.

He greeted her with a smile. "Ah, Blake. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I wanted to show something. I was in Vale and… are you reading something?"

His smile stretched further. "I sure am. I was scrolling through the net looking for some books to buy, when I came across something really interesting."

"Oh yeah?"

"Have you ever heard of fanfiction?"

Blake nodded. "Sure, I read it all the time. It gets a bad rep, but a lot of the stuff you can find is really good."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Jaune eagerly said. "I found this one author, and I've been on a reading binge of their stuff for pretty much the whole day. I've never seen this level of writing before. It's beyond anything that should be possible."

"Really?" Blake said, coming over to look at his scroll. "You'll have to send me the link to this guy. I need to check some of their work if you say they're that good."

"Will do. I'm not kidding, when you read his stuff you're never gonna want to stop-"

"Wait a minute!" she cried as her eyes scanned the screen. "I recognise this writing! There's only one author who can write like that!"

Jaune's heartbeat raced. He had to be dreaming. This was way too perfect to be true. "Don't tell me," he said quietly.

"This is a Constable Paperbag story!" she squeed in delight.

Jaune felt like his body was filled with light. He started jumping up and down, clapping his hands like an excited seal. "Oh my god, no way!" he fangirled. "You read Constable Paperbag's stuff too?"

"Are you serious? He's my favourite fanfiction author of all time! His stories are incredible! I can't read one without getting emotional!"

"Neither can I! They're the best things I've ever read! I reckon he could make millions if he started publishing books! He puts most authors to shame!"

"Oh, you know it! But that's not even the best part! I hear he's one of the sexiest men alive! His face and body are the very definitions of 'alpha male', and he's got a massive penis!"

"Normally I'd feel self-conscious from hearing that, but I totally believe you! He must be swimming in women! Hell, I want to be a woman just so I can sleep with him!"

"If I could just run my fingers across his chiselled abs for only a second, I can die a happy woman!"

It was like a scene from a movie. The two of them held hands and spun in a circle, laughing and dreaming about their mysterious idol, playfully squabbling about which of them was his biggest fan.

They did this until they were completely spent of energy, collapsing onto the grass in a tired slump. They both stared up at the perfect blue sky.

"You know, Jaune, we've really bonded over these past few days," Blake eventually said, breaking the silence between them.

"It's been one heck of a ride," he agreed. "The more I understand about you and the struggles of faunuskind, the more accepting of myself I become. Now look at us. We're spitting images of each other. I am you and you are me."

"You know, there is one more way to sell the illusion."

"How so?"

Blake stood up and picked up the box she had brought with her. "So… I went out and got these tailored today. I don't know your measurements, so you might want to try them on first. I kept the receipt in case they don't fit."

Jaune craned his head up. "You got what tailored for me?"

"Come and see for yourself."

Jaune stood up and took the box from Blake's hands. Whatever was inside was carefully packaged like a birthday present. He didn't know what he had done to deserve it, but a gift from Blake was more valuable than his newly-acquired faunus blood. He accepted it without hesitation.

He opened it with the excitement of a pirate after discovering a treasure chest. He peered inside.

His eyes widened. His heart fluttered. He let out a huge gasp that lasted so long, his chest threatened to explode with how much air he was inhaling. His trembling hands could barely hold on to the box. It was only thanks to his last shred of self-control that he didn't drop it.

"So? What do you think? Is it alright?" Blake asked. She was doing everything she could to sound neutral, but Jaune knew she was excited to hear his response.

"Is it alright?" he whispered. "Blake, this… this is…"

Jaune was utterly and thoroughly humbled, as if the Gods themselves had graced him with their presence. He looked down at his current clothes in disgust. Why the hell was he still wearing them when he had _this_?

He closed the lid and grinned. "Gimme a sec. I need to go change."

[/]

A loud crack rang in the air.

"Gargh! Son of a bitch!" Cardin yelled as he covered his face with his hands. He was pretty sure his nose was broken. Sure, aura would heal it, but it still really fucking hurt!

"Maybe that'll teach you to not be such a pervert next time," that bitch Yang growled, her hand still clenched into a fist. He saw blood on her knuckles. His blood. Once again, bitch.

"What the hell was that for?" Cardin yelled, his voice slightly muffled because of his hands.

"You're lucky to walk away with just a bloody nose," she said. "I catch you looking at my chest like that again, my fist's going straight through your head.

"Are you kidding me?" he cried. "Guys stare at your tits every day, and you don't punch them for it!"

"That's because they're not looking at them through fucking binoculars!" she snapped. "If I hear of you doing something like that again, I'm gonna find you and finish the job!"

She stomped off, leaving him alone in pain. Goddamn blonde bimbo. To think he once considered giving her the chance to have sex with him. Well, she wasted that opportunity. He was gonna extend the offer to someone else. Probably Nora Valkyrie. She was super into him, he could tell.

Growling, he made his way back to his room. His nose throbbed as his aura set to work patching it up. It wouldn't be fixed by the time he got there. He wasn't lucky enough to have huge aura reserves like Arc, the prick. What was it with yellow-haired people being just the worst people on Remnant?

If any of his team asked about his nose, he'd just say he got into a fight with a million White Fang and one. He was manly enough to make the story seem believable. The thought of that made his face sting a little less.

"Cardin Winchester!" came a voice from behind him.

He knew that voice. Jauney boy had apparently decided to pay him a visit. He grinned. He was gonna enjoy this.

"Well, well, look who it is," Cardin began, turning around to see him. "How's the transformation going, Arc? You started growing a… tail… what the hell?"

Had Yang punched him so hard that he was starting to see things? Because that was the only explanation for this.

Jaune was dressed in the same clothes that nerdy faunus Blake wore - albeit, designed for dudes in mind. That said, there was nothing manly about the black bow sitting on top of his head. He looked stupid. Like a black and white clown.

A mime?

Yeah, he looked like a mime! A stupid one!

"I've been looking for you," Jaune smiled like the idiot he was. "I knew if there was one person that needed to see me like this, it had to be you."

"Jauney boy, is that you?" Cardin gawped. "Gods, I knew you dressed like a dumbass normally, but that getup's trash even for you!"

Jaune threw his head back and laughed. "Still at it again with your insults? Can't say I'm surprised. There's little else going on in that head of yours."

"Did you seriously just call me stupid when you're dressed like that?" Cardin cried. "Dude, have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"Yes, that's right, keep hurling insults at me," Jaune nodded. "They are but glass being thrown against stone. I can take whatever you throw at me. I've evolved beyond your petty ways - and I mean that quite literally."

Jaune took a few steps forward, causing Cardin to jump back. "Dude, stay away from me!" Cardin snapped.

"My oh my, how the tables have turned," Jaune chuckled. "Now it is you who fears me."

"I'm not scared of you," Cardin sneered. "I just don't wanna be seen with a weirdo like you. I've got a reputation to manage. The last thing I want is people thinking I hang out with guys who put bows in their hair!"

Jaune put his hands up. "Fine. Then I'll say what I came to say from a distance."

"Didn't you hear me? I said back off! I want nothing to do with you!"

"You can't keep hiding from me forever, Cardin. I do exist, whether you want to accept me or not."

"Jaune, seriously, I will pay you to leave me alone."

"Then pay me a moment of your time. That's all I ask. Then I'll go."

Cardin groaned. It was embarrassing having to negotiate with a freak like him. "Can you at least get changed first? I dunno why you're dressed like that, but it's creeping me out."

"Blake gave these to me," Jaune told him. "I'm staying in them forever."

"You're asking to get your ass kicked in those things. I wanna punch you because I think that's what you _want_ me to do."

Jaune put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Again you refer to violence. That's the problem with you people - you seek war wherever you go."

Cardin's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'you people'?"

Jaune cocked his head, confused, then his eyes widened. "Oh goodness," he chuckled. "My apologies, I didn't even realise I said that. Your ways must be rubbing off on me."

"You've lost your damn mind," Cardin murmured.

"Alright, alright, I'll get to the point. I didn't come here to start a fight. I'm a man of peace, Cardin. I came here to thank you."

"Thank me?"

"You were right, Cardin. You were always right. I doubted you at first because you're… well, you. But now I see that the blood of faunus flows through my veins. It invigorates me. It gives my life meaning. I'm just one final step away from completing my transformation, then I will be whole."

Cardin stared at him like he was a maniac. Because he was. "You… I don't even… what?"

"And while I'd like to say it was Blake and myself who set me on this path, you were the first to tell me about it," Jaune continued. "You were the first to inform me of what I was becoming. Granted, you did it to frighten me, but I don't blame you. I was frightened myself at first. I thought I was turning into a monster. Now I see this is one of the best things to happen to me."

Speaking to Jaune was like looking at a spiralling mess of all the fucked up shit in the world. Cardin wanted to look away, but at the same time, he couldn't. Every word that came out of his mouth sounded like reality was taking a piss in his ear. He felt his brain melting away.

"In a way, you are the prophet of my ascension," Jaune said. Did he have to sound so damn happy? "You saw the signs right from the beginning. You told me the truth, even when I chose to ignore you. I wouldn't have been able to accept myself if it hadn't been for you, and for that I thank you."

Jaune held out his hand. "May my final transformation mend the bridge that has divided us for so long. Together, we shall show that even the most ignorant of us can see the truth if they open their eyes."

Cardin stared at the hand with dumbfounded eyes. Then he looked up at Jaune's face.

Then the hand.

Then Jaune.

Then he turned around and ran as fast as he could.

He heard Jaune's laugh ringing in the hallway. "You can't keep running forever, Cardin. I tried that once. It's better to just accept the truth."

"You're fucking crazy, man!" Cardin shouted back.

Cardin ran until he was sure he was miles away from that lunatic. When he reached his dormroom, he burst through the door and quickly locked it. Only then did he pause for rest.

He slid down the door until he sat on the ground, breathing heavily. "What… the hell… was that?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Cover art - Mike (Police have been knocking around. They keep asking me questions. I think they suspect me of something. Can't imagine what)**

**Chapter 12 - Judicium Designation**

* * *

Jaune hummed at tapped his chin as the girl walked past him. "Hmm… I'm gonna say 'sleepy'," he said.

Blake nodded her head. "Yeah, I completely agree. 'Sleepy' is definitely her word."

Jaune smiled. "I knew you'd agree with me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Weiss sat at her table in the cafeteria, watched them from a distance through leering eyes. Her fork dug into her vegetables which had turned cold a long time ago. Watching them had made her lose her appetite.

They made her sick.

The delirious duo had a table completely to themselves. No one else wanted to sit next to the mentally ill pair dressed like each other. Even Nora's eccentricity had limits. Weiss observed them the same way a doctor would observe a rapidly growing tumour. The sight of them both fascinated and disgusted her.

A male student walked past them. Jaune and Blake's eyes followed him.

"What about him?" Jaune asked.

Blake looked thoughtful. "Tough one. I'm thinking… 'curious'."

"Same," Jaune agreed.

"You are writing these down, right?"

"You already know I am."

Another male walked by.

"Oh, this is an easy one," Jaune said. "'Complacent'. I bet my life on it."

Blake patted him on the back. "You're getting really good at this. I was just about to say the same thing."

Weiss' eye twitched. Her lips curled into a snarl. They had been doing this for twenty minutes now. This ridiculous little game of theirs infuriated her. Her fork moved in stabbing motions. She felt the metal pierce through the vegetables, causing her lunch tray to clatter slightly. Nobody noticed, not when there was a bigger distraction happening a few tables away from them.

She was vaguely aware of someone sitting down opposite her. "Hello, Weiss," came a very friendly voice.

She briefly turned away from the source of her frustration and saw Velvet Scarlatina smiling at her.

"Good afternoon, Velvet," she sighed.

"I saw how sad you looked sitting on your own," Velvet said. "You must be getting bullied. Not to worry. It's my duty as your upperclassman to make sure you don't have to feel alone."

Weiss' eyes narrowed. "I am not getting bullied," she said in a stern voice.

"Really?" Velvet said, sounding irritatingly surprised.

"Of course not. Why would anyone bully me?"

"Sorry, I thought for sure you were. You have that wounded bunny rabbit expression on your face."

"That sounds like a very specific expression."

"Oh, I'd recognise it anywhere. I see it often in the mirror."

Weiss pretended she didn't hear that. "Your concern is appreciated, but I am not frustrated because I'm getting bullied-"

"Oh, so you _are _getting bullied."

"I am NOT getting bullied!"

"Sorry, sorry. Wounded bunny rabbit and all that."

"You sound rather obsessed with this whole bullying thing."

"YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH!" Velvet suddenly screamed in her face. A gust of wind blew past Weiss' face from the power of Velvet's voice, causing her ponytail to stand up on end.

Weiss' mouth hung open wide enough to fit an entire watermelon inside it. "What in the… what… what was that for?" she cried.

Velvet's eyes went wide and she quickly covered her mouth. Her face was bright red. "Sorry," she squeaked. "It's a defensive mechanism Coco taught me. Whenever I feel threatened, I now scream at my tormentors. It's supposed to stop me getting bullied, but I haven't got it under control yet."

"I'd say that's putting it mildly!" Weiss gawped. "You must be on edge twenty-four seven if that's all it takes to turn you into a banshee!"

Velvet lowered her hands and meekly murmured, "bitch," before raising them over her mouth again.

Weiss quickly blinked away her shock and fixed her hair. "In any case, I'm angry because of them." She pointed her fork at Jaune and Blake. "Those two are driving me to my wit's end with their antics. I can't stand it!"

Velvet's eyes followed the fork to where it was pointing. "Well, would you look at that?" she said happily. "I heard those two were acting weird, but I had yet to see it for myself."

"They're both as bad as each other," Weiss grumbled.

"Why are they dressed like each other? Are they dating?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Though they are certainly… united."

"And you're annoyed with them because…?"

"Just listen to them. Listen to what they say every time someone walks past them."

Velvet watched as Jaune and Blake muttered amongst themselves every time they saw another student. She frowned. "I don't get it. It sounds like they're just saying random words to me," she said.

"It's a despicable little game the two of them are playing," Weiss growled. "I overheard them talking about it. Tell me, Velvet, have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, 'they are the personification of _this _word'?"

"No?"

"No, of course you haven't. Because you're not insane. But since they are, they're assigning words to everyone they come across - essentially labelling them like props instead of people! It's absolutely shameful!"

Velvet scratched her head. "Um… I still don't get it. What's the problem?"

"What's the problem?" Weiss cried. "It's completely demoralising, that's the problem! How can you just strip away a person's characteristics and boil their entire personality down to just one word? It's insulting, not to mention arrogant! People are far too complex to be assigned to just one word, yet they're doing it anyway!"

"I guess that is a little rude," Velvet agreed. "But they're not hurting anyone, are they?"

Weiss hesitated. "Theoretically, no," she reluctantly admitted. "But what gives them the right to label people like this?"

"I don't see the harm if they're not hurting anyone. From how it looks, it doesn't seem like they're doing this to be malicious."

Weiss sighed. She wasn't getting through to her. Then an idea popped into her head.

"Velvet," she began slowly. "If someone kept judging you by one word every time they saw you, you wouldn't like that, would you? They'd be looking past everything that makes you interesting and that wouldn't be fair, wouldn't it?"

Weiss spoke like she was speaking to a child, but Velvet didn't appear offended by her tone. Her eyes widened. "No… it wouldn't," she said quietly.

"Sure, it's not name-calling in the traditional sense, but they'd still be unfairly judging you. That would be very similar to _bullying_, wouldn't you say?"

Velvet's rabbit ears stood up upon the mention of that word. "It would," she said. "Alright, I see your point. What they're doing is wrong."

Weiss hummed in agreement. "I'm going over there to put a stop to them. I'd appreciate it if you came with me. As our senior, they should respect your authority."

Velvet giggled and rubbed her hands gleefully. "Oooh, I've got authority. Coco's gonna be so proud of me when she hears that."

Weiss did her best not to roll her eyes. They made their way over to Jaune and Blake's table. Weiss walked with a commanding stride. Velvet was behind her, hopping at the prospect of being useful.

Jaune's eyes lit up when he saw them. He nudged Blake. "Look who it is!" he said to her. "I'll let you find Weiss' word. You know her better than I do."

"You will do no such thing!" Weiss snapped. "There will be no more word-picking! I'm here to put a stop to this foolishness!"

"Me too," Velvet said with a wave.

"Yes, and her too."

Velvet giggled again.

"I'd ask what's wrong, but I can't remember the last time you looked happy about anything," Blake said. "Did your father only send you four-million lien as an allowance this time? Is that why you're so crabby?"

"Silence!" Weiss barked. "I know what you two are doing, and I can't stand it any longer! Stop labelling people this instant!"

"Labelling?"

"Yes, labelling! That thing you're doing, where you assign a word to someone you see! That's called labelling! Stop it!"

"Are you telling us what to do?"

"I most certainly am!"

"Strange. You don't look or sound like our beloved leader Ruby, so I guess I don't have to listen to you, or do what you say. And since Jaune's a team leader himself, he automatically outranks you."

"I have the moral high ground in this debate!"

"Says you and every other would-be dictator," Blake scoffed.

Weiss exhaled her frustrations. "That's fine. I knew you wouldn't listen to me. That's why I brought Velvet here."

Velvet stepped forward. "She does have a point, you guys," she said politely. "It is a little rude choosing words for people you hardly know. They could find it hurtful."

Weiss nodded. "I find it ironic that the supposed 'open-minded' people are so quick to pass judgement on others."

"Oh, you think _we're_ the ones choosing these words?" Jaune chuckled. "No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. We're not the ones that decide what word someone personifies."

"There's no use lying, Jaune," Weiss said. "I saw you do it moments ago."

"But we're not choosing those words ourselves. That _would _be rude. We merely speak out loud the words we see written on their soul."

Weiss squinted at him. "Excuse me?"

"Jaune and I don't judge someone based on their outward appearance," Blake said smugly. "We look beyond that because we're _open-minded _\- as you put it. When we see someone, we gaze into their soul first. We get to know them for who they truly are in seconds."

"And in that moment, we see transcribed on their soul the word that forms their entire character," Jaune continued. "So when we say those words out loud, this is not us labelling someone. We're simply celebrating their true nature. It's a wondrous moment, like witnessing the birth of a child."

Weiss scowled. She was not convinced. She turned to Velvet for support and saw tears streaming down the girl's now red eyes.

Velvet let out a loud sniffle. "That's beautiful," she whispered.

"No, it's idiotic!" Weiss cried. "You can't peer into someone's soul! That's madness! Stop trying to justify your actions with spiritual yawp!"

"Sounds like she needs a demonstration," Blake said. "Very well. I will find the word that lurks in your soul, Weiss… assuming you have a soul, that is."

Blake began to stare intensely at Weiss' chest. Weiss immediately covered it with her hands. "Hey! Where do you think you're looking?" she said with a light blush.

Blake ignored her. "Written on your soul is… 'defiance'. You personify defiance."

"Congratulations, Weiss," Jaune said.

"See! That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Weiss said. "You're completely incorrect with your assumptions of people! I don't personify defiance at all! I'm a very orderly person!"

"You once told me you defied your father's wishes for you to stay in Atlas," Blake said.

"Because he's a controlling sociopath who wouldn't let me live my own life!" Weiss argued. "You'd do the same in my position!"

"You defied all my efforts to win your heart," Jaune said.

"You hounded me with a guitar and first-grade level poetry," she sneered. "I have more chemistry with my toothbrush than I do with you!"

"And you're defying being called the personification of defiance," Velvet pointed out.

"Velvet, you're supposed to be supporting me!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Sorry, I get confused when Yatsu isn't making decisions for me."

There was a new smell in the air - the scent of fifty pounds of sugar and twenty bottles of shampoo. Weiss turned around and saw Yang and Ruby approaching them.

"Yo, wassup?" Yang said. "Why are we all crowded around Blake and Jaune- oh my God, he's still wearing that crap. Come on, Jaune, you're not living with your sisters anymore. You don't need to let girls dress you up now."

"How come Jaune and Blake have matching uniforms before our entire team does?" Ruby asked. "I feel like our priorities are backwards."

"Yes, you two!" Weiss said. This was her chance to make Jaune and Blake see reason, and she wasn't about to pass it up now. "You have to help me. These two are forcing false titles on everyone they see!"

Jaune sighed. "Again, we are celebrating their true nature, not-"

"Shut up!" Weiss snarled. "They're branding everyone by a word they never asked for, nor need! They claim it's all about accepting someone, but it's just an excuse to pass unfair judgement on a stranger before even talking to them!"

Yang frowned. "What, you mean like they're name-calling?"

"Yes, they're name-calling - or, well, _word_-calling in this case. They're boasting that they can see into someone's soul and discover what word they personify. It's all tripe! Now please explain to them why they're wrong before I lose my temper."

Yang looked down at the pair. "Yeah, I'm with Weiss, you guys," she said. "You can't just go around sticking words on folks. That's kinda weird-"

"I got it!" Jaune declared once he was done staring at Yang's chest. "You are the personification of the word 'strength'. I could tell that even without looking at your soul, to be honest."

Yang blinked. "... you think I personify strength?" she asked.

"Without question."

"Same," Blake said.

Yang looked shocked, humbled, bashful, before a joyous grin broke out on her face. "I'm cool with that. Okay, carry on doing what you're doing."

"What? No!" Weiss wailed. "Don't give them more power!"

"Oooh, this looks like fun!" Ruby squeed. "This is better than getting your fortune told. Do me next! What word do I personify?"

"Ruby, not you too!" Weiss begged.

But it was too late. Blake drilled her gaze into Ruby's chest - Weiss was starting to think this whole thing was just an excuse for them to look at breasts - and went quiet as she focused.

She snapped her fingers when she was done. "Purity!" Blake said. "That's what you personify, Ruby. You are the very essence of purity."

Unlike Yang, Ruby didn't look wholly convinced by Blake's choice of words. Weiss hoped this would help her partner side with her. "Purity?" Ruby frowned. "Can I have another go? That doesn't sound like me."

"The words cannot be changed," Jaune said. "A soul expresses only the truth, and it doesn't come with a refund policy."

For God's sake…

"But I don't think it suits me," Ruby said. "I could understand if you called me 'heroic' or 'upstanding' or something like that. But 'purity'? That makes me sound like a virgin."

All eyes became locked on her. Yang narrowed hers dangerously. "Well… you _are _a virgin, aren't you?" she said in a low voice.

Ruby met everyone's gaze with a blank expression, before calmly walking out of the cafeteria.

Yang's eyes flashed red for a second. "Excuse me for a moment," she muttered, quickly following Ruby's footsteps. Weiss was half-tempted to join her.

Velvet clapped her hands. "Well, I say this matter has been completely resolved," she said. "Weiss is wrong and you two are right. Guess I'll leave now. Play nice, you guys."

Weiss turned on her. "What? But you haven't even-!"

"There's no need to thank me, Weiss. Doing a good deed is a reward itself. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to solve another bullying case before next period. G'day."

Velvet left before anyone could stop her. Weiss wanted to pull her hair out. How could this have gone so frustratingly wrong for her? Was she the only sane person left in this world?

She glared at the duo, who were probably feeling very satisfied with themselves. "This isn't over," she swore. "You may have convinced those three, but I am a fighter. I won't back down in the face of your madness."

"That sounds very defiant of you," Blake said dryly.

"You stop that!" Weiss spat before storming off back to her table. She pushed her abandoned food tray aside and sulked.

What a humiliation that had been. To think she had let someone like them get the best of her - one of them being Jaune of all people! Her pride would need some time to recover.

She cast one last scornful look at the pair and saw Sun in all his bare-chested splendour walking up to them.

"Hey guys," he said cheerfully. "Diggin' the new outfit, Jaune. You look almost as cute as Blake with that bow."

"Ah, Sun," Jaune said. "I can see your word now. Your word is… 'daddy'."

Weiss nearly fell out of her seat.

"Huh?" Sun said, puzzled.

Blake's face went red and she clamped her hand over Jaune's mouth. "Earnest!" she hastily blurted. "He meant your word is 'earnest'! That's what he meant, yes!"

This was Sun's first time being exposed to the pair's insanity. He was unprepared. He didn't know how to react. Weiss pitied him.

"Okaaaay," he said. "Well, I'm gonna go now. Good talk."

Sun wisely walked away. He missed the way Blake whispered to Jaune in a hungry voice, "You're damn right he is."


	13. Chapter 13

**Cover art - Mike (A car I don't recognise has been trailing my street lately. It's probably nothing)**

**Chapter 13 - Accursed Pandemic**

* * *

When Weiss had told her what had happened in the cafeteria, Pyrrha knew she had to investigate. She had to confront Jaune when he was alone. Easier said than done. It was easier to split atoms than it was to split him and Blake apart.

But when she saw Blake with her own team without him, she knew now was the time to act. She went to the first place Jaune would likely be - their dormroom.

She opened the door and there he was. He was standing in front of the mirror, still dressed like Blake. She wouldn't say she was used to seeing him in those clothes by now, but she no longer had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

He twisted his body so that he could get a view of his rear. He looked very proud of himself. Normally she'd be happy to see him looking so confident, but given current circumstances… her concern was piqued.

"Hello, Jaune," she said. "Do you have a free moment? I'd like to talk."

He slowly turned around and grinned at her with that eerie cheerfulness that seemed to follow him these days. "It finally happened, Pyrrha," he said. "My transformation is complete."

"Your transformation?"

"My transformation into faunushood. It's finally complete. Look!" He turned around so that his rear was facing her. "My butt is so sexy! Look at how it hugs my jeans! It's positively thickety-thick!"

Pyrrha felt like the temperature in the room had suddenly increased. She tried to be modest and looked away. "I-I hadn't really noticed," she stammered. "I've never looked at you from, um… that angle before."

Jaune didn't seem to care about the view he was giving her. "Don't just stand there and look then. Get over here and touch it. Feel how perfect it is."

Pyrrha's arm reacted on its own. It shot up, fingers twisted into a claw ready to squeeze those bootyful cheeks.

She pushed it back down with her other hand. The effort made her sweat. It was like trying to bend marble.

"Look, Jaune, as… _impressive _as your bottom is, I need to talk to you. It's quite serious."

Jaune stood up straighter, putting his behind… _behind _him. Unfortunate, but at least she had no distractions now. "Funny, I was hoping to talk to you too," he said.

"You were?"

"Of course. You're my partner. I'll share all of my issues with you."

"Oh, good," she sighed. "Because not to sound rude, but you do have a lot of them right now."

Jaune nodded. "I completely agree. So let's start with the obvious one."

This was going to be easier than she thought. "Very well. The first thing you should do is stop wearing-"

"I'm in desperate need of a katana."

"-those clothes - what?"

He walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out Crocea Mors. He twirled the blade in his hand. "Now that I'm a full-blooded faunus, I can't keep walking around using a broadsword. It's not suitable. I need something that represents who I truly am. I need a katana, like what Blake has."

Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say. "Um, I'm not sure you do," she said.

"No, no, I definitely do," he insisted. "I've already got some designs in mind. If you wanna see some references, turn to pages twelve, sixteen, and thirty-two of this."

Jaune threw her a copy of Ninjas of Love: Volume Sixteen. She dropped it before she could stare at the cover for too long.

"What are you going to do with your current weapon then?" she asked.

Jaune sniffed. "Guess I'll sell it. I'll see how much I can get it for on SchneeBay."

"You'll do what?" Pyrrha exclaimed. "Have you lost your mind? You can't do that! You told me that Crocea Mors was a family heirloom!"

Jaune shrugged. "An heirloom in our house is just what we call the stuff we've lost the receipt for, so we might as well keep it. I'm pretty sure my old underwear is a 'family heirloom' at this point."

"Regardless, you can't sell your sword for a katana! That'd be ridiculous!"

Jaune considered her words for a moment. "Yeah, you're right," he hummed. "Finding the highest bidder would take too long. I'll just take it to a blacksmith and have 'em reforge it into a katana."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Pyrrha snapped. "You can't just change weapons like you would a pair of socks! You've only now started to get good with your sword. If you swapped it for a katana, you'd have to completely change your fighting style! You don't have the time for that!"

"I wonder what I should name it?" Jaune hummed. "It's gotta be something deep and meaningful."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I'm thinking Obsidian Void. No? How about Blackest Agony?"

"Jaune, you do _not _need a katana. You've never even used one before. What makes you think you'll be able to wield one effectively without any experience?"

"I'm not concerned. I can already hear the blade's voice calling to me. It sings to me like a melancholic siren."

She wasn't going to ask what that meant. "And if that doesn't work out?"

"Easy. I'll just have you teach me."

"Teach you? How? I don't use a katana."

"You will."

"I don't _want _to use a katana."

"That'll change when you transform too."

Pyrrha paused. "What do you mean by that?" she asked cautiously.

"Didn't you ever wonder how I achieved this level of enlightenment?" Jaune said. "I'll give you a clue - it all began with Blake. Do you know what she did to me?"

She hadn't a clue. "I assume she said something that made you confused," she said. "This is either one big misunderstanding, or she's forcing you to act this way. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. I want to understand where this behaviour is coming from. I know Blake's responsible for it, I just don't know how."

"Oh, she's responsible alright," he confirmed. "She's the one who made the first move. It was a rather intimate experience."

Pyrrha's ears perked up. "It… was?"

"Yup. A lot of teeth-work was involved. She took me completely by surprise, I didn't have time to stop her. Who knew she could be so aggressive? I was definitely sore that day. It hurt more than expected."

Gods, that sounded like...

What in the world were these two getting up to? And why was he telling her this so casually?

"Anyway, she probably doesn't remember, but I'll never forget that day," Jaune said. "You might remember, though. You were there. The entire class was. It happened right in front of everyone."

"Um, I think I would've remembered seeing something like… _that_," she gawped.

"Well, to be fair, it only lasted about a second."

"My goodness…"

"It took some time, and I was a little resistant at first. But my transformation is complete. And now the real work can begin."

Jaune turned his back to her and walked towards the window. This gave Pyrrha enough time to stop her face steaming like a kettle.

The glass reflected Jaune's stoic expression. "There's so much work to be done," he murmured. "Most of humanity is still ignorant of the suffering we faunus face. We can't afford to wait for the rest of the world to learn acceptance. We must act now if peace is to be achieved."

Her composure returned to her. "Jaune, I'm still very confused," she said. "All this talk about transformation, faunushood and… intimacy. It sounds like you're saying Blake turned you into a faunus."

"That she did," he said. "But it's not enough. You see, I have a goal, Pyrrha. My transformation has opened my eyes to all the corruption, all the prejudice, all the scorn pitted against faunus. I cannot and will not stand for it any longer. I will be the harbinger of peace, and usher Remnant into a new age of glorious paradise."

"And you need a katana to do that?"

"Eh, it'll help. But I'm talking about converting all of humanity - transforming them into faunus too. Once everyone is faunus, we will finally be united."

That was the last straw. Pyrrha had to step in now if she was to save her partner from his own delusions.

"Jaune, you clearly suffering from some kind of identity crisis right now," she said. "I don't know if it's from the stress of Beacon or whatever, but this isn't you. We'll get you to a doctor and have you checked."

He smiled patiently at her like she was the one with the problem. "I don't expect you to understand right away," he said. "But you will when you transform too."

"Okay, you keep saying that, and I still don't know what that means."

"As I said, I aim to convert the entire world," he explained. "I don't know why Blake and the rest of the faunus haven't thought of this already. They must trust your kind enough to make the right decisions yourselves. But I've been human once. We're a slow bunch. I know better than anyone that if we are to go into the light, we must be pushed. I'm gonna make as many of us as I can."

He turned back to look at her. His expression was now that of adoration. "And in honour of you being the first person to believe in me, as well as the greatest partner anyone could ask for, I shall make you the first human I convert."

Pyrrha blinked once, then after a few seconds blinked again. "What?"

"You, Pyrrha, will be the hammer that forges the new age. Just think about it - the Invincible Girl: face of the faunus conversion movement. People will be flocking to transform too, and Remnant will finally be at peace. The Grimm will seem like a minor inconvenience once we achieve unity."

Unity? Faunus conversion? He had gone completely insane!

He began walking towards her, and despite all her instincts telling her to run, her legs refused to move. "Uh, as flattering as that title sounds, I think I'll pass," she said nervously. "I've got enough publicity as it is."

"There's no need to be nervous," he laughed. "I was nervous too when I first started to change. But believe me, this is a gift."

He reached her. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him. His hand linked with hers.

"W-Wait a second! What are you doing?" she squeaked.

"We must begin the transformation process," he said warmly. "In order for this to work, my genes must flow into your body. I could probably pass them onto you by injecting you with a needle, but I want this to feel personal."

Too many things were happening at once. The room was spinning. His arm moved up and hers followed. His grip was gentle, but she couldn't pull away.

"Hold on, don't you think we're going a bit fast?" she said frantically. "Shouldn't we go on a date first? Maybe take a walk or something? Get some noodles?"

He laughed again. "That won't be necessary. Blake and I barely shared a single word between each other before we did this."

Good Gods above, how did he ever have trouble wooing Weiss if he worked this quickly? As for Blake, how could someone so withdrawn be so brazen with her body?

Wait, no, that wasn't the issue here. Jaune wanted to do with her what he did with Blake!

Pyrrha's throat went dry. This was bad. Was it? It's not like she had never thought about this, but given the circumstances… then again, this dominant side of him was endearing…

Her inner Pyrrha roared in confusion. What was happening right now? She was too muddled.

She felt his hot breath wash over her hand. A tingling sensation travelled down her spine, causing her entire body to shiver.

"I… I… I…" Her mind had crashed. Her words were useless.

"I'll try not to make this hurt too much," he said. "You can close your eyes if you want."

"It's just… this is… we shouldn't... I'm a virgin- ow!"

Pyrrha's wild train of thought crashed when she felt Jaune bite her hand. The sudden jolt of pain gave her control of her body again, and she pulled herself away from him.

Jaune wiped his mouth and grinned. "Voilà!" he said proudly. "Now you are one of us. Congratulations, Pyrrha."

"You bit me?" she said. "Jaune, I don't know what I'm into yet, but biting definitely isn't it!"

"Sorry, but that's how the gene gets passed on. Think of it like getting bitten by a werewolf, only don't think of it like that because that's racist."

She rubbed her hand. "But I thought we were gonna- wait a second! When you said Blake transformed you through, um, _personal contact_, is this what you meant?"

"Sure. What did you think I meant?"

She let out an embarrassed cough. "N-Nothing," she murmured. Was she disappointed? It was hard to tell. "So… you think I'm going to turn into a faunus now because of this?"

"I know you will," he said confidently. "You carry the gene now. You will be reborn just as I have."

"Right…"

She stared at the bite mark in silence for a while. Did he really have to bite her so hard?

"What happens now?" she asked.

Jaune blinked. "Right now? Oh, uh, nothing happens right now. You gotta wait a few days for the beast blood to kick in."

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

An awkward silence hung in the air. Pyrrha tapped her foot softly, while Jaune looked all around the room to avoid her gaze. He scratched the back of his head, trying to look as casual as possible.

The sound of his stomach rumbling broke the silence.

"I'm pretty hungry," he said. "Wanna get lunch somewhere?"

"U-Um, sure." All this craziness had made her work up an appetite too.

"Great. You fancy noodles?"

She loved noodles. "As long as it's from A Simple Wok. And after that bite, you're paying."

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Fine. Lemme go grab my wallet."

Pyrrha couldn't remember why she had come here in the first place, and before she could try to, the two of them were already out the door.


	14. Chapter 14

**Cover art - Mike (Remember that car I was talking about? Turns out it was a police car. They raided my house just now and hauled me away. I'm in their car as we speak. Pretty cramped in here, but at least I can get this uploaded)**

**Chapter 14 - Unholy Trinity **

* * *

For two days, Jaune pestered Pyrrha by constantly asking if she was experiencing any faunus symptoms. For two days, Pyrrha always responded with no. Jaune kept a close eye on her, monitoring her progress. He knew it was only a matter of time before her inner faunus was unleashed, and he wanted to be the first to witness it.

On the third day, before he could check up on her, Pyrrha came rushing up to him wearing a black bow atop her head.

"There! There! You see!" she panted. "I couldn't find anywhere that sells the rest of the outfit, but I'm wearing the bow! I'm a faunus now! Ta-da!"

Jaune covered his mouth. Proud tears glistened in his eyes. "I don't believe it!" he squeaked. "You transformed faster than I did. You must've embraced the faunus gene right away. Truly, you are the shining pinnacle of acceptance, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha gave a nervous chuckled. "Yep, that's me. Just another open-minded, freshly-baked faunus. Go Team Faunus - if that's something we call ourselves."

"How does it feel?" he pressed. "Don't you just feel ready to burst with purpose and resolve?"

"Yeah, yeah, all of that. It feels very… faunus-ey?"

"Oh my God, that's exactly the word I used!" Jaune screamed with joy. "You've taken to this like a duck to water. Soon you'll be converting people left and right."

"Yeah, can't wait. Vive la révolution and all that."

She sounded unconvinced. Jaune knew it was just first nerves.

"Okay, I know you must have a million questions right now, so we'll take you to Blake. She'll fill you in on all things faunus," he said.

Her smile was strained. It must've been difficult containing all that excitement.

He dragged her to Blake, who was in her room looking up affordable mouse traps on her scroll. She was just as thrilled as he was when she saw Pyrrha's improvement.

"Well golly-gee, I never expected this," Blake cheered. "Good to see you choosing to walk the path of the faunus too, Pyrrha."

"Yeah, um, sure. Glad to be a part of it," Pyrrha said.

"What made you embrace the calling? What compelled you to join our ranks?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "Jaune just opened my eyes, I guess? He showed me the way."

Jaune patted her back. "All you needed was a nudge in the right direction. It's how Blake helped me."

"I can't believe how much progress has been made recently," Blake said. "It's so nice to finally be surrounded by such like-minded people."

Pyrrha muttered something neither of them could make out, then said out loud, "So what happens now? What do we faunus-inclined people do? Do we have meetings or something? What are the rules?"

"Most of the time we read books and complain about human government officials," Jaune told her. "Who's your least favourite human in power?"

Pyrrha's face blanked. "Uh… I hear Jacques Schnee is up to no good."

A collective groan from Jaune and Blake rang through the room. "Oh my god, don't even get me started on that ass-clown!" Blake said. "If we ever discover a Grimm species that takes human form, we should legally name it 'Jacques Schnee', though that might be unfair to the Grimm."

"The thought of him completely ruins my yoga," Jaune growled. "The stuff he's been able to get away with just because he has a moustache and a lot of money... why, it's enough to make even the calmest of waters churn into a raging whirlpool!"

"Weiss is quite spectacular for never adopting his ways," Pyrrha nodded. "I've heard tales of what it's like in those dust mines. His labour practices are atrocious."

"Completely," Blake agreed. "You should totally knock him out."

Pyrrha's face dropped. "Uh…"

"I agree," Jaune said. "If anyone can bruise his face, ego and reputation all at the same time, it'll be the Champion of Mistral herself."

"Knock that stupid moustache right off his face, Pyrrha," Blake encouraged.

"Hold on, slow down a minute!" Pyrrha said. "I know I said I don't like the man, but I'm not about to start punching people because of that."

"Come on, it'll be easy," Blake insisted. "Weiss can smuggle you into her home, then you can walk up to him and then BLAM! The only dust he'll have will be the dust from his pulverised skull."

"As your leader, I approve of this," Jaune said.

"Well, I do not!" Pyrrha said. "And neither should you two. I thought you were a peaceful group?"

"Good point," Jaune hummed. "Okay, fair enough. How about you just use your fame and influence to have _others _attack him? We may be peaceful, but that doesn't mean others are."

"We can allow the people one last chance at violence before we teach them peace," Blake smiled.

"I'm a teenage celebrity with a cereal box sponsorship," Pyrrha said. "I'm not sure how much influence you think that gives me, but it's not enough to rally people to punch one of the richest, most powerful men on Remnant."

"Sounds like you just need a good publicist," Blake said. "Don't worry, I'll write your campaign speech for you. I'm a great writer. I read."

"Look, I still don't agree with advocating violence," Pyrrha said. "It's not the, uh… it's not the faunus way."

Both Jaune and Blake felt like they had been shot. They gasped loudly and clutched their chests. Pyrrha, not feeling particularly dramatic, did not gasp or clutch her chest.

"My God, you're right," Jaune wheezed. "What were we thinking? We nearly went completely against our own philosophy."

"I am so ashamed of me," Blake whispered. "This is, like, the worst introduction we could give you, Pyrrha. Please forgive us."

"It's fine?" Pyrrha said. "It's no big deal, I was just making a point."

"This is why we need someone like you," Jaune said. "Someone as intelligent and rational as you are perfect for a peaceful movement."

"Thank you."

"You'll make a perfect negotiator."

Pyrrha cringed. "Please don't call me that."

"What? Why not?"

"Just don't. Please."

"I shouldn't have been so quick to jump on the violence bandwagon," Blake said. "I should've known better, considering all that I went through with the White Fang. If there was one thing they taught me, it's that violence is never the answer."

"You can't blame yourself," Jaune said.

"I don't, but some of their ways are still ingrained in my instincts. You get so caught up in all the ways humans oppress us, that you forget that there are faunus out there just as bad - maybe even worse."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. The current White Fang leader, Adam Taurus? You'd hate him. He's a walking disaster, destroying everything in his path without care. A ruthless warmonger. We used to date because I think bad boys are sexy, but being a terrorist is a little _too _bad for my liking."

"I can't believe it," Jaune tutted. "It's people like that that give the faunus a bad name."

"He's the vilest person I've ever had the misfortune to know. The White Fang used to be the good guys, but then he got in charge and screwed everything up. If anyone deserves to be punched in the face, it's him. Wait a minute..."

Pyrrha didn't like the way Blake's face looked. It looked like she was coming up with an idea, which knowing her, would be bad for all of them.

She wore a sly grin when she was done thinking. "I dunno where to find Jacques Schnee, but I know where Adam is. Wanna go pay him a visit?"

Jaune's 'yes' came as quickly as Pyrrha's 'no'.

"I told you, I'm not beating up people just because you don't like them," Pyrrha said.

"Trust me, this guy deserves it," Blake said. "The last time we met, he tried to blow up a train full of innocent people. He doesn't deserve your sympathy."

"He's a terrorist leader, Pyrrha," Jaune followed up. "We'd be doing the world a favour by smacking him around a bit."

"This is also the chance for me to bury the past, get a clean slate and remove my violent urges," Blake reasoned.

"This doesn't sound very peaceful to me," Pyrrha said.

"Trust me, we are peaceful," Blake said. "But if there was one thing the White Fang taught me, it's that violence is sometimes the answer. Come on, you know we're in the right here."

Pyrrha was conflicted. It was tempting, but she didn't sign up to become a huntress to pick fights with people. Grimm were one thing, but people could be reasoned with.

Still, she was aware of all the atrocities committed under the White Fang's name. What they were suggesting could be seen as justice…

"Fine, I'm in," she relented with a sigh. "But this isn't becoming a regular thing."

"Excellent," Blake beamed. "Grab your weapons and meet me at the courtyard. Here's to peace!"

Jaune and Blake both cheered 'to peace!', with Pyrrha hesitantly joining them.

[/]

Adam Taurus would happily admit he wasn't a patient man. He was a man of action by nature. But he knew when to be patient, which was good enough for him. He knew when to bide his time, to wait for events to unfold by themselves.

Was it frustrating to sit back and do nothing until then? Of course. But he could do it, which was all that mattered in the end.

He sat in his large tent, reading the latest update from their most recent _ally_. Even after all this time, he hated referring to a human by that term, especially to one as smug as her. His right-hand man, Banesaw, stood nearby as always, guarding the entrance.

"Any news from the woman, sir?" came his gruff voice.

"She and her lackeys have infiltrated Beacon posing as transfer students from Haven," he said. "She plans to upload a virus to the CCT tower when the time is right."

"And when will that be?"

"She didn't specify."

A low growl rumbled from behind the large man's mask.

"My thoughts exactly," Adam agreed. "I don't like this any more than you do. But our time will come soon."

"I don't trust her."

"Is that fear I hear in your voice, Banesaw?"

"Not fear, sir - merely concern. Putting our lot in with this woman, investing our resources to fuel her efforts. How do we know we aren't wasting our time? How do we she isn't leading us all into a trap?"

"If her cover is blown before she can follow through with the rest of her plan, she's the one who takes the fall," Adam said. "She needs us. As well-connected as she might be, she needs our forces. It isn't in her best interests to turn us against her."

"Do you believe she will succeed?"

"I believe she will leave enough room for us to leave our mark, even if she does fail."

"She is arrogant."

"What human isn't?" Adam scoffed. "You are right to doubt her, Banesaw. But make no mistake - we're the ones using her. She's the one having to do all the work. We just need her to create enough chaos for us to slip in."

"Still, the idea of working with a human… it unnerves me," Banesaw said. "I'm almost hoping she does something to betray us. I'd relish the chance to carve that pompous look off her face."

Adam smiled. "If she does, you're free to do with her as you wish. I only ask that you let me know beforehand. I've no doubt it'll be an amusing sight to see."

"She will know the true consequences of her actions before I remove her head from her body," Banesaw vowed.

A voice came from above. "More women trouble, Adam? You've just got no luck with us, have you?"

A special kind of anger suddenly surged through Adam's body. The kind of anger only one person could create. And that was her voice he was hearing…

Blake Belladonna burst through the roof of the tent, landing before them. His anger grew when he saw her grinning.

"Adam, it's been too long," she mocked. "Still camping out in the woods, are we? That's great. You know, if you enjoy bedbugs crawling into your sleeping bag, and going to the bathroom in a trench. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you'd love that."

Adam unsheathed his blade. "Blake!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "You must have a death wish to stand before me after what you did!"

"You mean that thing with the train? I thought you'd've moved on from that by now."

"You abandoned me!"

"'Abandoned' is a strong word, don't you think? Most people call it 'dumping' these days."

"How did you even find us? We moved camp since last time."

"Oh, that was easy. I just followed the smell of bullshit until it brought me here."

"I can't tell if that's an insult about my faunus traits or not, but either way, you will suffer for this!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep preaching. I'm sure one of these drones will listen to you." She turned her gaze to Banesaw. "Speaking of which, hi, Benny. Is that a new mask? Love the red streaks. Did you paint them on yourself?"

Banesaw revved up his chainsaw. "You will not speak that name!" he snarled. "That name died in the past, alongside my former self. I am not that man anymore. I am reborn."

"Really? Because I reckon if I take off that mask, I'll see Benny Bubblenickle's face. The giant pimple on your chin's a dead giveaway."

"That name means nothing to me! I am Banesaw, and you will address me as such!"

"But Banesaw's doesn't have a ring to it. And I like the name Benny."

"Be careful who you mock, girl!"

"Can I call you Bane-y instead?"

"Enough!" Adam barked. "The only reason I haven't killed you right now is that I want to know why you are here. After your betrayal, I never expected to see you again. I can only pray for your sake that you're here to apologise."

Blake winked. "You got me. That's exactly why I'm here. I need your forgiveness, Adam. If I don't, I'm gonna feel really bad for the rest of the day."

"Your tone could use more respect, but I'm willing to be merciful, if only because I remember what we used to have."

"You sweet-talker, you."

"So long as you swear your loyalty to our cause, and to _me_, I will be willing to forgive your insubordination."

That damn grin again! "Swear loyalty?" she chuckled. "Oh, Adam, no, that's not what this is about at all. I'm here to apologise for what I'm about to do."

"Which is?"

"I'm about to start punching you. Really hard. Mostly in the face. If you surrender now, I promise to avoid your balls, but you're still gonna have enough bruises to make you look like a dalmatian when I'm done."

Now it was his turn to laugh. Even Banesaw managed a chuckle, which translates into one of his more softer grunts. "You cannot be serious."

"I am seriously serious."

"You come into my camp, you mock me in front of my men, and now you seek to threaten. Do you honestly think I can forgive this transgression?"

"Well, I don't care about the other two offences, but if you can forgive me for beating you up, that'd be great."

"You don't stand a chance," he spat. The joke had lost its humour. "I taught you everything you know about fighting. Your skill pales before mine. You'd be better off running."

"I like my chances."

Banesaw's chainsaw roared as he revved it again. "I've had enough of this!" he growled. "Every word that comes out of your traitorous mouth only makes this easier. Your severed head will serve as a warning to all who challenge the White Fang."

"This is how it ends for you, my darling," Adam said. "We could've reshaped this world together. But you sealed your fate when you came here alone and goaded us. Your death is your own doing."

He wanted to feel some shred of sympathy for her. But it was impossible when she was still smiling with that insufferable attitude. She didn't even reach for her own weapon.

She crossed her arms. "You know, that whole thing about wanting your forgiveness was really just a courtesy call," she said. "I'm still breaking your face with or without your pardons. Oh, and one more thing… I'm not alone."

As if on cue, another person stepped into the tent to join her. A blond boy, broadsword on his hip and… dressed like her?

His smile matched hers. "Oh good, you haven't started yet," he said to her. "I was beginning to think I would miss out on the fun."

"No chance. He has enough bones for everyone to break," she said.

"Who the hell is this?" Adam roared.

"Name's Jaune," the boy said. "I've heard a lot about you, Mr Taurus. I gotta say, you don't look like a terrorist. With that outfit, I'd have you pegged for a butler or something."

Adam's entire body trembled with fury. "I will hesitate to kill Blake, but I will have no qualms butchering you, boy," he seethed.

"Shame, because I have one or two qualms about getting butchered, especially by a butler. I take it Blake's told you about the smackdown that's about to go down, yes?"

"Shut up!" he raged. "How did you even get here? I can understand Blake sneaking her way here, but you? How did you get past my soldiers?"

"Oh, they've been dealt with. Take a look."

Jaune opened the tent's flap, and Adam saw his entire unit piled up on the ground, unconscious but alive. Atop the mountain of people stood a celebrity even he recognised.

"Pyrrha Nikos?" he gasped.

She jumped down from the pile, and Adam saw that she too wore a familiar black bow on her head. "I would say sorry for what I did to your soldiers, but in my defence, you are quite the villain," she said, at least trying to sound polite. "If it helps, this wasn't what I had planned to do today."

Adam's eyes darted back to Blake. "What is this nonsense? You left us to start a damn cult?" he said.

"A cult?" she scoffed. "Please. We are merely advocates of equality and acceptance. We have no leaders. We follow only the path of peace." She cracked her knuckles and growled, "And we're here to help you get _real _peaceful."

Her words were a command to her other two helpers. The three of them started to advance slowly towards them. They moved like hungry wolves cornering prey.

"This is the part I've been waiting for," Jaune said with delight. "Remind me to thank you, Pyrrha, for those hand-to-hand combat lessons. I think they're about to be useful."

Pyrrha ignored him and said to Adam, "This isn't personal. Well, maybe a little, but it's mostly obligation on my part."

Adam and Banesaw carefully moved back. The trio was approaching them from all angles.

"Steady," Adam murmured to his only ally left. Blake and her cult had them trapped. There was nowhere for them to retreat too. He pushed back the last bit of doubt in his mind, and forced his sword hand to stop wobbling.

Banesaw revved his chainsaw louder than ever as a warning. It did nothing to slow them down.

"Pretty sparks," Jaune cooed.

Damn them all.

"They have us surrounded," Banesaw said.

"We can take them!" Adam snapped. His back finally hit the wall of the tent.

"I can buy you some time, sir. I will draw their attacks. You can escape in the skirmish."

"There will be no fleeing!" Adam snarled. "We will stand and fight!"

"Then it has been an honour, sir."

"We're not dead yet!"

"No," Blake purred. "Not yet."

The tent fell silent. A single drop of sweat trickled down Adam's forehead, past his mask, then dripped down onto the floor. He heard the soft 'ping' it made as it splashed.

And then they descended on him.

[/]

The three warriors of peace were back in Team RWBY's room, celebrating their victory. Each of them was admiring the battle trophies they had taken, the spoils they earned for a successful fight.

Jaune twirled his new katana in his hand. "Oh yeah. This is exactly the kind of katana I was talking about needing, Pyrrha," he said adoringly. "I don't even care that it's red and not black. The scabbard's a freaking gun! I have a gun now! Isn't that great?"

Pyrrha sighed. "I understand why we had to punch him out like that, but did we really have to rob him too? That seemed a bit unnecessary."

"It wasn't unnecessary at all. I've finally got the katana I wanted, and you look absolutely killer in that coat if I do say so myself."

Pyrrha had taken the butler coat Adam had been wearing. She was against it at first, but after insisting that it looked great on her, she kept it. Even though she was still feeling conflicted, he could tell his compliments were having an effect on her.

"Aaaaand done!" Blake announced, looking up from Adam's scroll that she had in her hand. "Every picture of me on this thing is now deleted. The only memories he'll have of me now is of me stomping his face in."

"Awesome," Jaune said. "What are you gonna do with the scroll now? You gonna throw it away?"

"I think I'll hold onto it for now. I heard him talking about some woman infiltrating Beacon or whatever. I'll look through his messages to see what that's all about."

"He's probably stalking someone else. The creep."

"Probably. But regardless, having beaten up my ex and taking his property, I've now buried my past. I hereby declare myself redeemed, and I am now officially a better person."

Jaune gave her a small applause, to which she graciously accepted.

"You must be thrilled," Pyrrha grunted, rolling her eyes.

"Redemption is fun," Jaune smiled. "We gotta do it again sometime."

"This is the best," Blake agreed. "It's amazing what you can accomplish with the right people. What do you wanna do next? We're on a roll here."

"Maybe we can take a step back from the violence this time?" Pyrrha suggested.

"Funny you should mention that," Jaune said. "As it just so happens, I've recently come up with a plan for world peace that I know is gonna work."

Blake gasped. "You have a plan for world peace? Seriously? Jaune, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You were so hyped up about beating up your ex, I didn't wanna steal your thunder."

"Aww, Jaune," she blushed.

"But I think now's the right time. Pyrrha knows what I'm talking about with this plan. Right, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha hid her face in her hands.

Blake edged closer to him. "Come on, don't keep me in suspense. How are we gonna do it?"

Jaune felt like the smartest man on Remnant. He had been looking forward to sharing his plans for the future. "The problem with us right now is that we're too small," he explained. "We're already an influential force for good, but there's still only three of us. We need to think bigger. If we're gonna change the world, then we need more people to join our cause."

"Are you talking about persuading people to join us?"

"I'm talking about _converting _people. Just like how you did with me, and how I did with Pyrrha. If we do it on a globe-wide scale, all the kingdoms will finally be unified. Actual world peace. It's everything we could've dreamed of, and it's finally within our grasp."

Blake stroked her chin. "Globewide, eh? That's a pretty big undertaking. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I could handle that."

Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "You underestimate your influence," he said comfortingly. "Look how quickly I transformed because of you. Pyrrha only took a couple of days. This is gonna work, Blake. It'll take a while, sure. But when was the road to peace ever easy?"

"I don't know, Jaune. I don't think I'm that influential..."

"Blake, just look at us. Look what became of me and Pyrrha because of you. You are the source of our change."

Her bow twitched and her eyes widened. "I am?"

"You are," he confirmed. "That's how I know that if anyone's gonna transform the people of Remnant, it's you. You're the beginning of all good things, Blake."

Blake looked moved by his words. "I… you're right," she said, speaking like a true warrior. "You're absolutely right, Jaune. If anyone's gonna do this, it's us."

"That's the spirit," he smirked. "We'll spread this to everyone we see."

"When do we start?"

"We can start right now. I'll let you handle your team. Pyrrha and I will take care of ours. After that, I think our next targets should be-"

Jaune paused. He heard big heavy footsteps thundering towards the room. There was even a little growling behind all that stomping. A Grimm attack? Impossible, those things couldn't get within spitting distance of the school. Regardless, everyone prepared for combat.

The door nearly flew off its hinges when Cardin kicked it open. He was steaming like a kettle, face so red that Jaune thought his head was going to pop.

"That's it!" Cardin snarled. "I can't take this anymore! You wackjobs are driving me crazy!"

"Cardin," Jaune cackled, walking over to greet him. "Just the man I wanted to see. I've got great plans for the future, and lucky for you, you're a part of it."

"Your plans can go to hell!" he barked. "You just had to ruin all the fun, didn't you? You couldn't let me have this one thing, could you? Fine! You win! The joke's over! Now will you stop doing this… whatever the hell it is your doing!"

"Peace is no joke, Cardin."

"I said, cut it out!"

"You'll understand soon enough… when I convert you to our cause."

Blake's eyes widened. "Wait, _Cardin_? You're gonna try and convince the most racist guy in the school to join us?" she cried.

"Don't listen to him. He's an idiot!" Cardin snarled.

"It'll be easy, Blake," Jaune reassured her. "I'll just use the same method you used on me."

"I dunno, Jaune," Blake said. "He's pretty set in his ways."

"He's not gonna be converting anyone!" Cardin roared. "Goddammit, Arc, how can you be this stupid? Were you dropped on your head or something? This was never meant to go this far, for fuck's sake!"

"Indeed. I bet you expected me to fold under your first wave of prejudice," Jaune said. "But I've risen above that. Now you're going to join me. Maybe after you experience first hand the racism faunus face, you'll change your ways."

"Nothing's gonna happen to me, dumbass! I ain't joining your freaky band of weirdos!"

Jaune laughed some more. "Yes, let that denial flow through you. But one bite is all it takes. When I've bitten you, my faunus genes will flow through you, eradicating your humanity, and you'll be one of us! Isn't that right, Blake?"

Jaune waited for Blake to jump to his side, supporting his profound logic. The two of them had faced worse battles than Cardin Winchester. He waited a few more seconds.

Then a few more.

The silence was starting to become a little embarrassing.

Blake did not spring to action. Instead, she regarded him with a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?" she innocently asked him.

Jaune felt his spirit deflate a little. "I'm gonna bite him," he said. "That'll turn him into a faunus and he'll stop being racist and stuff."

"Huh? How would biting him turn him into a faunus?"

"... because that's how it works," he said, trying desperately to jog her memory. "That's how you turned me into a faunus. You bit me during that lesson, remember?"

Blake's frown deepened. "I sincerely have no idea what you're talking about."

"See!" Cardin cried. "Nothing's gonna happen to me! Although I swear to God, if you put your mouth on me, I'm gonna kick your ass so hard, your shits will be shaped like my foot for a week!"

Jaune was completely puzzled. Nothing was making any sense. "I… I don't… what's going on?"

Cardin let out a loud groan. "You can't turn into a faunus by getting bitten by one, you idiot! That's baloney!"

"Sure you can! Look at me! I'm a faunus!"

"No, you're not!"

"Am so!"

"You're not a faunus!"

"You've no proof of that!"

"I don't need proof! I already know it's impossible!"

"Oh yeah?" Jaune huffed. "How would you know?"

"How would I know? Oh my fucking God- BECAUSE I MADE IT ALL UP!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Cover art - Mike (Had my trial today. I'm sentenced to twenty years for the murder of Mike. The judge had no evidence on me, except for all the eye-witnesses, the bucketloads of CCTV footage, and the shirt I was wearing saying 'Yes, I Killed Mike. It Was Me!'. The whole system's corrupt, man)**

**Chapter 15 - Epstein Didn't Kill Himself**

* * *

Cardin's words rang like a bell in Jaune's ears. "What?" he asked, completely stupefied.

"I made it all up!" Cardin yelled again. "Of course I made it up! You were never turning into a faunus, and you sure as hell aren't one now! I was messing with you!"

Cardin's words were loud, but Jaune was having a hard time understanding them. He looked desperately at Blake and Pyrrha. Blake looked as confused as he felt, whereas Pyrrha still had her head in her hands. Neither of them looked ready to tell Cardin he was wrong.

"I don't… I don't understand," Jaune murmured.

"You're human, dumbass!" Cardin snapped. "You've always been human!"

Jaune's brow furrowed. "No, I don't believe you," he said. "I can't be human, because I've been acting like a faunus for ages now."

"Dressing up like a girl doesn't make you a faunus! It makes you a dickhead!"

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about all the other stuff, like waking up in trees, seeing red dots and fighting over fish. Only faunus do those things. How do you explain that if I'm a human, Mr Human-pants?"

Cardin looked like he was about to have a heart attack from sheer frustration. "Faunus don't do those things! They're freaks, but they do have some standards! I was the one doing those things to you!"

"You were?"

"Yes! I was the one putting you in those trees! I was breaking into your room and sticking you up there while you were asleep!"

"What about all the red dots?"

"I was following you with a laser pointer! That was an obvious one!"

"And my craving for fish?"

"I waved a fish under your nose while you slept, so that you'd like it on a subconscious level! Yeah, that's right! I know what 'subconscious' means! I'm crazy smart!"

Jaune's head throbbed as he felt the walls of his reality tremble under Cardin's information. He knew better than anyone that his past activities were the result of him transforming. Then again, it was strange that Cardin was always present for all of them…

"I see what you're doing," Jaune growled. "You're trying to confuse me! Well, it'll take more than trickery to shake my resolve."

"Oh, you're confused alright! But don't blame me for all of it. Half of this shit, you did all by yourself!"

"You cannot fool me!"

"I'm not trying to anymore! I'm calling the joke off! You're the one stretching it out!"

"You were the one who told me I was changing! Don't deny it! You said it yourself that I was transforming into a faunus!"

"I know what I said! I was lying!"

"But that doesn't make sense! Why would you lie about something like that? What's the point?"

"Payback!" Cardin hissed. "I only told you all that crap because I wanted to freak you out as revenge for that party!"

Jaune cocked his head. "What party?"

"That stupid party you threw making fun of me because of what happened at combat practice!"

Jaune paused to give himself a moment to think. His eyes lit up when the memory came back to him. "Oh, when I whooped your butt," he chuckled. "Yeah, good times. I nearly forgot about that."

"You didn't beat me!" Cardin snarled.

"I'm pretty sure I did. That was a fun party too."

"This is why I did what I did!" Cardin cried. "I wanted to take you down a peg for being such an annoying prick! And you know what? It worked! You should've seen yourself!" He then said in an overly high-pitched voice, "Waaah, I'm turning into a faunus! Somebody help me, waaaah!"

Jaune cringed from the bully's impression of him. "I don't sound like that," he pouted.

"You're so easy to fool, Arc," Cardin sneered. "All I had to do was say a few science words to you, act like you were some kind of monster, and you did the rest. I had you scared shitless for those days and I wasn't even trying. The hardest thing for me was to stop myself from laughing every time I saw you."

"This all sounds like a pretty elaborate prank," Jaune said. "With this kind of effort, you could be my arch-nemesis or something. You're telling me you planned this whole thing?"

"No, not originally," Cardin grunted. "My original plan was just to kick you in the balls when you weren't looking. But then I saw Blake bite you, and I knew I could work with that. I just didn't expect you to fall for it so easily."

Jaune did his best to look like his entire worldview wasn't falling apart in seconds. He started to laugh madly. "You almost had me there. But as if I would believe the lies of a dirty stinking racist like you! I am of the free-thinking faunus, and my existence will not be denied-!"

"Ask Blake if you're a faunus!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You don't believe me? Fine. Go ask an _actual _faunus if I'm telling the truth."

"Now why would I do that? I already know I'm a faunus and so does she."

"Really? Is that why she's looking at you like your a lunatic?"

He turned to Blake. Jaune gulped. Cardin was right - she was looking at him like he was a little bit crazy. If he was going to get a straight answer from anyone, it'd be her. He needed her wisdom once again.

"Blake, am I a faunus?" he meekly asked.

She blinked. "Um… did you think you were?" she said awkwardly.

"Kinda."

"Well, um… no. No, you're not. Sorry?"

And just like that, the final piece of reality shattered into meaningless pieces of pure pointless.

He half-expected the whole world to just vanish before his eyes. That he would wake up somewhere else, having just been awoken from a dream. The firm ground beneath his feet told him that this was still real life, just not his interpretation of it.

As his mind went into a panicked frenzy as it processed the truth, all of his misplaced confusion, terror, pride, and spirit manifested into one word.

"Huh," he said.

"There, you see?" Cardin said. "If you won't believe me, believe her."

Jaune clicked his tongue. It was an interesting experience for him, having his whole perception of life be pulled out from under him. He felt strangely calm about it. It was probably the shock. He had a feeling he'd be screaming at some point later today.

"So, I'm not a faunus?" he casually asked.

"No!"

"This was all just a prank?"

"Yes!"

Jaune sniffed. "Fair enough."

Cardin looked like he was about to explode from his carefree tone. "Fair enough?" he roared. "That's all you gotta say? I made you look like an idiot for days in front of all your friends, and that's the best you can do?"

Jaune shrugged.

"You are the absolute worst! I know I can be an asshole, alright? I bully people, I pick on those weaker than me! That's who I am! There are two kinds of people in this world - bullies and victims! We all have our parts to play, and I'm playing mine perfectly! But you? You suck! Your reactions are all wrong! Get angry, throw a punch, piss your pants, just do something!"

"I got one more question," Jaune said, ignoring his rant. "If this was all a prank, then why are you telling me about it?"

"Because now you're enjoying it! You've taken my fun and turned it into something weird! If I knew you'd twist this into some kind of freaky fetish roleplay, I never would've done this in the first place!"

"Ah."

Cardin let loose a bellowing howl and nearly punched a wall. Jaune took some degree of enjoyment from his anger.

"You're lack of commitment pisses me off!" Cardin raged. "I'm fucking finished! I can't do anything with you! You are the worst victim in existence!"

"Sorry."

"Oh, you will be! Except you won't be, because I'm done with you! You stupid, worthless, freaky, skinny, little…"

"You okay?"

"No! That does it! I'm gonna go find some toddlers and steal their candy! Maybe they'll understand what it means to be a doormat! If I ever see you again, Arc, I'm not gonna do anything about it! You sicken me!"

With his point made and his voice on the verge of breaking, Cardin thundered out of the room, leaving them with peace and quiet again.

"Ohhhhhh," Blake said after a while. "So wait, when you told me that you were becoming a faunus… you meant that in a _physical _sense?"

Jaune swallowed. "... yeah?"

Blake held his gaze in silence for a few seconds, then collapsed onto the floor laughing.

"You should have said something!" she hollered. "I could've told you right from the start that that's impossible! Turning into a faunus? That's brilliant!"

He couldn't stop his face turning red despite his composure.

"I think I'm gonna pee! Like, what would that even make you? A _werefaunus _or something?"

"... that might have been the terminology I used," he mumbled.

Blake's entire body spasmed. Her laughter increased to the point where it robbed her of her voice. Jaune stood still and waited for it to end, feeling very silly. Very silly indeed.

After two solid minutes of non-stop laughing, Blake slowly managed to stand up again. Her trembling knees prevented her from standing up straight. "I'm sorry," she giggled. "I shouldn't laugh. This must be a real shock to you."

Jaune shrugged again. "Eh, probably will be at some point. But I've had an existential crisis before. This isn't much different from when I found out that there's no Santa."

Blake's expression softened. "Oh, Jaune, I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "This is my fault. I should've noticed beforehand that something was wrong. Had I known, I would've told you the truth sooner."

"Don't worry about it," Jaune insisted. "I guess Cardin had us both fooled, huh?"

"I guess."

"You absolutely sure I'm not a faunus? Not even a little bit of one?"

"Nope. You're as human as they come. I can spot a faunus a mile away."

"Really? How? Can you sense their aura, or can you smell them out?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "No, silly. You haven't got any animal traits."

"Oh... yeah, that makes sense. I was waiting for them to grow at some point."

Blake gave a little snort.

"Ah well, it's not so bad. The main disappointment to me is that I won't get night vision. I was looking forward to that. It would make playing hide and seek way easier."

"It really does."

"It's not like too much has changed- OH MY GOD, MY LIFE IS A LIE!"

He hadn't meant to scream the last part out, but the words had been forced out of him, like something had reached down his throat and pulled them out.

Blake backed away. "You alright?" she asked.

Jaune cleared his throat. "I guess that must be the shock subsiding," he chuckled. "Sorry in advance if I do that again."

"We'll take you to a doctor."

"Yeah, might need one."

"What do you wanna do about Cardin? Want me to beat him up? I can do that thing to his arm that I did to Adam's."

Jaune smiled. "Thanks, but I think we should only reserve that for _actual _criminal masterminds. Attacking a few naysayers just because they don't like people who are different… it's not the faunus way."

Blake was surprised for a moment, before a proud smile broke out on her face. "Damn right it isn't," she agreed.

She held out her hand and Jaune shook it, squeezing it tightly. Even though many things in his life was proving to be false, at least he knew that his friendship with Blake was still absolutely real.

"Speaking of that, I've just realised something," Jaune said. If waking up in trees, fighting over fish and chasing red dots isn't typical faunus behaviour, then how come you do that?"

"Because Blake is weird," Pyrrha said, speaking up for the first time in ages.

Blake looked like she had been slapped. "Hey, I'm not weird!" she gasped.

"Yes you are," Pyrrha said. She was no longer covering her face. Her tone was as expressionless as the look on her face. She was staring at the wall, not making eye contact with them. "Even Nora thinks you've got some loose screws, and she thinks 'getting high' means swallowing gravity dust. We didn't say anything because we thought you were just shy. But no. You're definitely weird."

Blake flinched. "Ow. That's not very polite, Pyrrha."

"I don't want to be polite. I want to be honest."

Blake stuck out her tongue. Pyrrha didn't react.

"Actually, there's still one thing I don't understand," Jaune said. "Pyrrha, you must've known that humans can't turn into faunus by getting bitten by them, right?"

Pyrrha's jaw clenched slightly for a second. "Yes, Jaune, of course I knew that. Everyone knows that."

"So then why did you play along?"

She turned her head slowly to look at him. "Why… you ask me why?" she said in a quiet voice.

Jaune found himself paralysed by the look in her eyes. There was a cavalcade of emotions burning behind those emerald orbs. He saw anger, frustration, embarrassment, desperation.

Hunger.

Desire…

"Because I... will do literally anything... TO GET YOU TO NOTICE ME!" she bellowed.

She threw herself at him like a pouncing tiger. A single yelp escaped Jaune's lips before they were enveloped by hers. The two of them were knocked to the floor. That didn't stop her. She was already starting to remove his clothes along with her own, never taking her mouth off his for a second.

As Jaune felt her tongue swirl in his mouth like a sock in a washing machine, he knew he had to make a decision: question why she was doing this, or go along for the ride.

He didn't realise his hands had already moved their way down to her ass until his fingers squeezed champion booty. Her moan was like music to his ears.

He made his choice.

[/]

Blake stood shocked at the sight before her. It had all happened so fast. Jaune and Pyrrha had become servants of lust, kissing and groping each other with vigorous passion. And they were doing this right in front of her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

By now they were almost completely naked. They were both bare-chested but were too busy dry-humping each other to worry about their pants just yet. The sounds they made bounced off the walls of the room. Someone would surely hear them. They were so careless. So… fascinating…

Blake bit her lip. Her legs clenched together tightly. Maybe she should stick around and watch for a bit, so that she _could _believe what she was seeing.

She pulled up a chair and observed. This probably wouldn't be as saucy as her books, but it'd do. Oh Gods, it would do.

Jaune temporarily stopped smooching Pyrrha to look at her. "Uh, Blake?"

"Hm?"

"Could you, um, give us a little privacy?"

"Oh, sure." She stood up and locked the door behind them, then sat back down again. "Carry on," she said.

"Blake?"

"Yes?"

"You're still in the room."

"It's my room."

"... fair enough," Jaune said, then immediately went back to servicing the girl on top of him. Blake sat back grinning like a fool at the sight of two young, toned, spirited naked bodies doing all kinds of marvellous things to each other.

Okay, maybe she was a _little _weird.


	16. Chapter 16

**Cover art - Mike (I'm in prison now. But before they threw me in the cell, they allowed me to get this uploaded. Oh well, things aren't so bad. My cellmate's a massive guy who insists on being called 'Daddy'. Nice to meet a strong guy with family values)**

**Chapter 16 - Serendipity Twilight**

* * *

Blake knew she was in a tree before she was properly awake. Her head nuzzled comfortably against the bark. Having woken up in trees for so long now, her body instinctively knew the best positions to assume when sleeping. She no longer had leaves tickling her nose, nor branches sticking into either her cat or human ears. A tree would never beat a bed, but it wasn't unpleasant by any means.

She yawned and stretched. Just a few more minutes. Then she could worry about getting down. Until then, she relaxed to the sounds of birds chirping and the feel of the morning sun shining on her.

"Wakey wakey."

A voice roused her curiosity. She rubbed her eyes and looked all around. Then she saw Jaune sitting in the tree opposite hers. He was smiling and eating the sandwich that had been in the tree.

"Jaune?" she said just as another yawn escaped her.

"I don't know how you can look so relaxed in these things," he winced, shifting his position on his branch. "I've only been up here for two minutes, and I've already sat on three pinecones. Also, I swear I can feel ants climbing up my leg."

She smiled and leaned her back against the trunk. "Years of practice," she said. "Stick around and maybe I'll pass down some of my techniques."

"Thanks, but no thanks," he grunted. "The only way I'm sleeping in these things again is if I build a treehouse. One of these days, you really gotta start installing pillows onto these things. Maybe even blankets."

"I thought about it once, but if it rains they just end up getting soggy."

"Maybe put them in the trees with the most shelter?"

"That's only useful if I can predict which tree I wake up in. Which I can't."

She heard him laugh.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked. "Is Cardin still putting you in trees?"

"Nah, he's been avoiding me like the plague since last week. He's still hung up that I spoiled his fun. He won't even look at me these days."

"Sounds like you've finally gotten rid of him."

"Looks like it."

"So why are you here?"

"I wanted to see you. And I knew I'd find you here."

She blinked away the last bits of her sleep and looked at him. Unlike her, he wasn't in his pyjamas. He was fully dressed in his normal clothes - his _actual _normal clothes, not the attire she had given him. He was back in his Pumpkin Pete hoodie and light-blue jeans again.

Blake's eyes squinted as she noticed something black and familiar tied around his arm. "You're still wearing the bow," she said.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Having it around my arm gets me fewer stares. I can't wear the rest of the outfit anymore, obviously. It's a bit awkward dating one girl when you're dressed like another."

"I can imagine," she grinned. "Speaking of which, give me the details. What's it like dating the strongest in our year? I'll bet it's great."

"It's freaking awesome," he said. "I feel like that guy in a TV show that ends up dating his best friend, only it works out perfectly. She's nice, strong, and she never bottoms. Ever."

"Nice," Blake approved.

"This'll blow your mind - turns out she's been into me for ages now! Isn't that crazy?"

She did her best to act surprised. "Yeah, it's uh… it's hard to believe."

"Not much had changed between us, except now I get to kiss her and stuff. She's the best girlfriend a guy could ask for. She was even kind enough to go swimming through the dump with me to get my hoodie back."

"I'm glad. I missed that hoodie. It's good to see you wearing it again. I still don't know why you threw it out in the first place."

He looked away, embarrassed. "I… may have accused it of being a faunus hate symbol, and swore never to wear it again."

"Hate symbol? But it's a cute little bunny."

"Yeah. I guess I'm not very good at this 'being a faunus' thing, huh?"

Blake winced as a feeling of guilt suddenly hit her. The sting was brief but impactful. It was hard for her not to feel responsible for his delusional thinking.

"Jaune, I know I've said this already, but I'm genuinely sorry for what happened," she sighed.

He looked at her confused. "You're sorry? What for?"

"The whole thing with Cardin and you believing you were a faunus. I'm sorry."

"Huh? Why are you apologising? You didn't start the prank."

"Not, but I failed to stop it sooner. I guess I got so wrapped up in the idea of having a friend who was just like me, that I failed to see what was going on. Or maybe I chose to ignore it on purpose. I don't know anymore."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," she insisted. "You know me well enough to know that I'm not the most outgoing of people. Ruby calls herself socially awkward, but at least she has the confidence to talk to new people. I don't even have that courage."

"Don't be silly," he frowned. "You talked to me plenty of times before you truly knew me. You've got plenty of courage."

"That was because I thought we were so alike. It felt safe. I know I'm not the most _normal _of people. So I wait for others to approach me first. For the most part, it works. But if I didn't have the 'Bellabooty' - as Yang calls it - nobody would give me the time of day."

There was a nip in the air. Blake tightened her yukata to keep warm.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that now," Jaune said. "Because I think you're great, with or without your perfect butt."

"You don't have to be polite for my sake," Blake said. "I was short-sighted and selfish. I let you live a fantasy life just because I thought I met someone so like-minded. It must be hard for you adjusting to reality after what happened."

"That's what the four hours a day of therapy are for, which is going swimmingly, by the way. I'm actually starting to see images in those ink-drop pictures they keep shoving in my face. I only pretended to see something last time because I didn't want to hurt their feelings."

"This isn't a joke, Jaune. I really feel bad for what I did to you."

"And I'm telling you not to be," Jaune said firmly. His smile grew softer. "Did you know you were the only one I trusted when I thought I was turning into a faunus? I didn't tell a single person about my concerns. Not even my team."

"Why didn't you?"

Jaune gave her a look. "Really? Why didn't I tell my team that I thought I was transforming into a faunus? Is that what you're asking?"

She blushed slightly, feeling a little silly. "I see your point."

"They would've thought I was crazy. I love my team to death, but it's true. And they were absolutely right. I was crazy to believe that such a thing was possible. But it was all I could think about. I had trouble sleeping at night because of it. I knew that if there was one person I wanted to discuss it with, it had to be you."

"How come? You thought I was crazy too?"

"No, I thought _I _was crazy. Since you were the expert in faunus stuff, I knew I had to go to you."

"There's plenty of other experts in these matters at Beacon. You could've just gone to them. They would've told you the truth right away, and all this would've been avoided."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't do that. I'm happy this happened."

She blinked. "What?" Had she misheard him, or did he just admit to being happy about all this?

"Even though this was all just a joke at my expense by Cardin - albeit, it backfired - I'm glad this worked out the way it did."

"But why?"

"Look how far we've come because of it." His eyes shone when he looked at her. "I wasn't kidding when I said I trusted you. We got into a lot of shenanigans when I thought I was transforming. I'll never forget the day we destroyed the library chasing a red dot. We really bonded during those silly moments."

She too looked back on those memories fondly. "It was really fun," she agreed.

"You were the only person who didn't treat me like I was a freak," he continued. "I was genuinely worried that there was something wrong with me, but not only did you accept my change, you taught me to embrace it. Even though it was misinterpreted, you made me feel more confident in myself than I had ever been before… and I can't thank you enough for it."

The chill in the air faded, and she felt herself getting warmer. "Jaune," she murmured.

"Blake, you're my pal. I don't care if anyone thinks you're odd. They're missing out. You're one of the most supportive, caring people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. So yeah, I'm glad I fell for Cardin's prank. It gave me the chance to be your friend."

Her chest fluttered. Her eyes started to sting, and she found herself blinking back tears. Gods, look at her. She was up a tree sitting in her pyjamas about to cry because of friendship. She was a peculiar one.

She wiped her eyes. Her smile was wobbly. "For what it's worth, Jaune, I'm glad you're not a faunus," she said. "Because you're one of the finest humans I've ever met."

Jaune looked like he was torn between trying to play her compliment off cooly, or letting it get to him. The result caused him to shuffle on the branch with a blush on his face.

"Out of curiosity, what kind of faunus would you hope to be?" she said.

Jaune shrugged. "I thought for sure I was gonna be a cat faunus because I was bitten by one, and because of how I was acting. If given the choice though… probably a shark faunus. It'd be cool to have a fin."

"You'd have to cut a hole in all your shirts to make space for it though."

"I think it might be worth it."

She giggled. "I think you'd make a pretty cute cat faunus. But just because we'd be of the same blood, don't expect me to share any of my fish with you."

"Unbelievable. After all we've been through as well."

"I have to draw the line somewhere, Jaune."

Jaune rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to the sky. "You've inspired me, Blake," he said. "I've learned a lot from all this. I've learned that there's a lot of injustice in the world, especially towards the faunus. Just because I ended up not being one, doesn't mean there isn't a lot of bad things going on. I wanna make a difference. I want to live and fight for a world where everyone can feel safe, can be equal. That's why I want to become a huntsman, after all."

Blake felt her resolve strengthen. "I would be honoured to help you with this," she said. "You're gonna need a faunus expert, after all."

"I can think of no other one more suited for the job. I'm glad to have you in my life, Blake. If anyone's gonna help make a difference, it's you."

"Both of us," she corrected. "We're gonna be a force to be reckoned with. We'll do what the White Fang could never do - bring true equality to Remnant."

"I'm looking forward to it. You're a great friend. You're also the only girl I know cool enough to read and discuss porn with."

She groaned. "Not you too. Jaune, my books are not-"

"Blake, I have read every single copy of _Ninja's of Love, _including the collector's editions with the exclusive covers, as well as all the spinoff novels that were only released in very specific parts of Mistral. It's porn."

She crossed her arms. "Well, it's damn good porn," she grumbled.

"Hell yeah, it is."

"We can argue about the finer points of it later. Right now, we have a world to change. Let's make Remnant a better place for all races."

"Now you're talking."

Neither one of them moved. Their moment of revolution was starting to simmer.

"Uh, Jaune? You do have a way for us to get down, right?"

"You know, I knew there was something I was forgetting when I climbed up here!"

* * *

**Dedicated to my friend Mike. Rest in peace, my nigga**


End file.
